DARCHULA, July 16: After a ban in trade of yarsagumba in India, smuggling of the rare medicinal herb into Nepal has been on the rise in Darchula district which shares boarder with the southern neighbor.

Police had arrested two persons, Narendra Singh Dhami  and Nandan Singh Badal, in possession of three kilograms of yarsagumba last Saturday in Huti VDC of the district. Twenty five-year-old Dhami is from Dhari-3 while Badal, 30, is from Hikila-2. They had come from India to sell the herbs in Nepal. After four days of the incident, police again confiscated 700 grams of yarsagumba from Dhaulakot VDC-7.

According to Area Police Office (APO), Huti, the arrested persons had picked yaragumba from Pithauraghad of India and had smuggled it into Nepal when police arrested them from Huti-4.

“Smuggling of yarsagumba picked from India is on the rise in the area. With increase in such cases, we have tightened monitoring in the border areas,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sushil Singh Rathor of the District Police Office (DPO), Darchula.

The DPO suspect that smugglers may have started taking illegal routes after police tightened monitoring in the border areas. After the ban on picking yarsagumba in India, smugglers have started making claims they pick yarsagumba from regions of Nepal to avoid punishment, added DSP Rathor.

 
• yarsagumba
 
• area police office
 
• 700 grams of yarsagumba