Two foreigners arrested for smuggling hashish and khat

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 3: The Narcotics Control Bureau arrested two foreigners for smuggling hashish, a drug made by compressing and processing parts of cannabis plants, and khat, a stimulant made from khat plants (Catha edulis).

According to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), a Maldivian and a Yemeni national were arrested in a span of two days. However, their arrests were made public only on Sunday.

"Denis Cucereavii, a 41-year-old Maldivian national, was arrested with 8.740 kilograms of hashish from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on June 26," read an NCB statement.

Denis, who had two passports – Maldivian Passport AA1458563 and Romanian Passport 059627335 – was en-route to Zurich, Switzerland, with transit in Turkey, Istanbul. He was scheduled to leave on a flight of Turkish Air.

"Hashish was found in Denis' luggage after screening through two x-ray machines at the hold-baggage area inside the TIA," said Superintendent of Police (SP) Chakra Raj Joshi.

The NCB had also arrested Paul Werst, a 63-year-old German national en-route to Germany via Istanbul on a Turkish Air flight, on June 12, with 6.860 kilograms of hashish while screening his luggage in the hold-baggage area of the TIA.

Similarly, two days later on June 28, the NCB arrested 39-year-old Mohammed Yahya Abdo Mohammed, a resident of the Republic of Yemen with Passport Number 09558757, with khat.

"Mohammed was arrested after he left carrying a package from the import section of the TIA's Customs. He was arrested from his hotel room in Thamel," said SP Joshi, who is also the spokesperson for the NCB.

According to SP Joshi, the bureau was waiting for the receiver as they had identified a unique substance in a package that arrived at the TIA Customs in Gauchar. 

"When we sent a sample of the substance for lab test, it was found to be khat. It is a stimulant drug made from the buds and leaves of a khat plant and is famous in the Middle East and Eastern Africa. Confiscation of khat in Kathmandu has come as a surprise," said SP Joshi.

The NCB had arrested Mohammed with 21.160 kilograms of khat in total. He had received 20 kilograms of khat from the Customs Office and the remaining was confiscated from his hotel room.

Alongside the two foreigners, the NCB and its units had arrested eight Nepalis with 114 grams of brown sugar and 1,534 tablets, 200 capsules and two litres of different pharmaceutical drugs between June 26-28.

"We have started necessary legal procedures against the arrested individuals," said SP Joshi.