15 drug smugglers arrested

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Sept. 7: The Narcotics Control Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested 15 smugglers of different drug rackets operating in Kathmandu Valley during a five-day operation since September 1. Over Rs. 2.9 million worth of brown sugar, pharmaceutical drugs and cannabis were seized from the individuals.

The first racket busted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was involved in smuggling pharmaceutical drugs. On September 1, the NCB arrested 32-year-old Sanjay Kapali, a resident of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, and 27-year-old Kumar Tamang, a resident of Ramechhap district. The duo was held with a total of 92 ampules of buprenorphine, diazepam and phenergan. 

When the NCB investigated the source from where Kapali and Tamang procured drugs for selling and self-consumption, the bureau reached 29-year-old Anish Maharjan, a resident of Ward No. 17 of Lalitpur Metropolitan City.

Police raided Maharjan’s house and confiscated 160 ampules of the pharmaceutical drugs and Rs. 22,100 cash.

“Seventeen mobile phone sets, seven watches and four guitars were also seized from Maharjan’s room. The 28 items were pawned to Maharjan for the pharmaceutical drugs by users. It has shown a worrying situation,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bikash Raj Khanal.

SSP Khanal, who is also the chief at the NCB, informed that 27-year-old Dharamdev Ram, a resident of Saptari district, was arrested from Mahalaxmi Municipality in Lalitpur district on September 2. Ram used to supply the drugs to Maharjan.Similarly, on September 2, the NCB busted two different rackets smuggling brown sugar into the Valley. 

Three individuals of a racket were arrested with 40.5 grams brown sugar while five members of another racket were held with 247 grams brown sugar.

Pratap Karki, 33, was held with 7.5 grams brown sugar from Ward No. 18 of Lalitpur last Friday. When investigating the source of the drug, the NCB nabbed Bhuvan BK, 24, of Panchthar district, and Deng Hang Nembang, 25, of Kathmandu, from Anamnagar area with 33 grams of brown sugar.

In another operation last Friday, the NCB had arrested 25-year-old Utsav Ghimire, a resident of Kathmandu, with three grams of the drug. Utsav led the NCB to 41-year-old Dorchi Sherpa, a resident of Bhojpur district, who was nabbed with 7 grams of brown sugar.

Through Dorchi, the NCB arrested 32-year-old Phularmi Sherpa, a resident of Bhojpur, from Sukedhara, Kathmandu, with 240 grams of brown sugar. Phularmi and Dorchi were found to be receiving the drug from Jhapa district.

They often travelled to Jhapa and bought the drug from a brother and sister living in Ward No. 15 of Mechinagar Municipality.

The siblings have been identified as 44-year-old Nausad Alam and his sister 30-year-old Apsara Khatun. They were arrested on September 4 from Mechinagar, Jhapa, with two sets of digital weighing scale and Rs. 1.04 million cash.

“The siblings used to receive brown sugar from Indian smugglers. They lived nearby the border area. Within less than two months, Phularmi and Apsara have had transactions up to Rs. 3.9 million for drugs,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Yogendra Kumar Khadka, spokesperson for the NCB.

The fourth racket was busted by the NCB through the arrest of three individuals. The trio was involved in receiving drugs parcelled from California, USA. 

On September 5, the bureau was waiting for a receiver of a parcel which arrived at the General Post Office from the USA. The parcel contained two kilograms of cannabis. 

“Manoj Rai, 28, of Kathmandu, was the one who came to receive the parcel and got arrested. He led us to 30-year-old Ankit Kumar Shrestha, a resident of Kathmandu. Ankit had employed Manoj as a carrier for Rahul Chhetri, 30, of Kathmandu. Rahul had agreed to pay Rs. 30,000 to Manoj for completing the task,” read a statement by the NCB.

“Further investigation and legal process have been initiated against the arrested individuals. There are high chances of some more individuals involved with the racket to be arrested in the near future,” said SSP Khanal.