SARLAHI, Aug 13: Drug traffickers have been reportedly using various border points of Sarlahi district to smuggle illegal drugs into Nepal from neighboring India. It has been found that the smugglers make use of local children, adults and women as mules to safely smuggle their drugs.
On Friday morning, Armed Police Force arrested two boys, including an Indian national, from the border outpost in Sangrampur while they were attempting to smuggle drugs into Nepal.
They have been identified as Haman Ansari, 15, of India and Samir Ansari, 16, of Sarlahi. Police confiscated 1,794 ampoules of various narcotic drugs including diazepam and promethazine.
The arrestees have given statements to the police saying that they were transporting these drugs for someone else. Superintendent of Police Samar Shrestha, who is also the chief of District Police Office (DPO), Sarlahi confirmed their role as mules. The arrestees and confiscated drugs have been handed over to the Nepal Police.
According to police, they also confiscated an Ncell sim card from them, which could be used to track other people involved in their drug circle.
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Four days ago, police personnel from Area Police Office of Lalbandi arrested two motorists transporting 26 bottles of drugs. Police filed court case, which is currently underway.
Likewise, on July 17, police had arrested two persons while they were transporting narcotics into Nepal from the main border point of the district headquarters in Mangalwa. They were hiding 405 pieces of various drugs under seats of their car with registration number Ba 8 Cha 908. The arrestees have been identified as Prabesh Upreti and Pranesh Bhattacharya of Kathmandu.
In four months from April to July, police have arrested nine people on the charge of drug smuggling from various border points of the district. Most of them are local women and children that drug lords use to safely smuggle drugs into Nepal.
According to police, the increased surveillance from police in recent times has forced drug dealers to use locals as mules.
The cases above show that various entry points of Sarlahi are increasingly being used to smuggle drugs into Nepal from India. Sarlahi is becoming one of the main hubs for drugs entering into the country, which are then transported to major cities like Kathmandu, police said.
A knowledgeable source told Republica that the imported narcotics are easily transported to Kathmandu from Sarlahi in night buses.
“The main dealers have persons working under them from many settlements. They also involve driver and assistant drivers of night buses to transport drugs.”
The DPO said they have intensified monitoring in border entry points so as to control drugs entering the country from India.
