SARLAHI, April 13: On March 21, eighteen-year-old Palsang Bamjan of Ranisera Rural Municipality-1 of Makwanpur was arrested with 5 kg hashish. He was caught from Jutpani of Sarlahi while transporting the drug to India from Sarlahi border via Sindhuli.
Similarly, on the second week of March, two persons were caught with 10 kg hashish near Lakhandehi Bridge of Sarlahi along the East-West Highway. Mohammad Najauddin, 21, of Lalbandi Municipality-1 and Jitendra Raut, 22, of Harion Municipality-1 were found transporting drugs in a motorcycle (Ga 6 Pa 8646).
Likewise, on the last week of February, Mohammad Farun, 24, of Harion-11 got arrested in Lakhandehi Bridge along with hashish. He was carrying the drug in his motorcycle (Ba 26 Pa 9422). As per the preliminary investigation of police, Farun had brought the hashish from Sindhuli and was taking it to India.
Sarlahi growing as a transit point for drug trafficking
A week before that, Sarlahi Police had arrested two individuals with 31 kg of hashish. Reportedly, the arrestees were attempting to transport the drug by hiding it in the trolley of a tractor.
These are only some cases, as police have arrested 2 quintals and 27 kg hashish, 3,614 ampoules of Nitravet, 728 ampoules of Fenaragon, 696 ampoules of Nurfin, 679 ampoules of Diazepam, 320 tablets of Nitrosun among other drugs since the beginning of the current fiscal year. The drug from Udayapur and Sindhuli is transported to India via Lakhandehi Bridge of India. As per the locals, drug traffickers sell 1 kg of hashish for Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per kg.
Not just that, Sarlahi has been an easy entrance for banned medicines. On Sunday, two persons of Gaushala Rural Municipality-5 were arrested with illegally imported medicines, which are used as drugs. Raju Sah Rauniyar, 21 and Bibek Kumar Sah, 22, of the same village were caught with Nitravet tablets. They had come to Sarlahi from India in a motorcycle (Ja 3 Pa 5388).
On the second week of March, a team of Tribhuwannagar Police booked two individuals in the border area of Brahamapuri during a security checking. One of them was an Indian national. According to District Police Office (DPO), Sarlahi, police confiscated 40 Nitravet tablets and a bottle of Dialex-DC.
"Smugglers export hashish and import banned medicines from India," said an Indian citizen living in the border area seeking anonymity. "Though police sometimes arrest the smugglers, most of them are successful in escaping," he added.
Former principal and social activist Rajanikant Jha stated that the number of drug users has increased significantly in the district. "Not just police but we all should make efforts to control drug trafficking and abuse," said Jha.
Meanwhile, Inspector Gopal Chandra Bhattarai claimed that security has been tightened in the border to curb the illegal drug trafficking.
It has been learnt that the smugglers have been using the youths of Sarlahi for transporting drugs these days.
