Six held for smuggling cannabis via postal service

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Sept. 18:The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of Nepal Police arrested six individuals on various dates for their alleged involvement in smuggling 3.239 kilograms of cannabis via postal service from abroad.

Investigators informed that the cannabis was hidden inside different items with hollow space inside. 

According to the NCB, they confiscated 900 grams of cannabis on September 5 from a cartoon box parcelled to the Birgunj Postal Office via Goshwara Postal Office in Dillibazaar, Kathmandu. The box was sent from the United States of America (USA).

"The parcel was checked in Dillibazaar's Postal Office. When we found it was cannabis, we sent it to the destination under controlled delivery (under surveillance)," read a statement of the arrest made public by the NCB on Sunday.

Dallu Ram, 32, and Habib Miya, 43, both residents of Birgunj, Parsa, were arrested when they came to receive the parcel at the postal office in Ward No. 8 of Birgunj Metropolitan City on September 10.

Likewise, the NCB found 1.4 kilograms of cannabis in another parcel sent from the USA at the Goshwara Postal Office on September 10. The parcel was destined for the Pokhara-based Postal Office.

Ajin Varghes, a 24-year-old Indian national, was arrested when he came to receive the parcel with cannabis at the Regional Postal Office in Pokhara on September 11. Cannabis weighing 720 grams was also seized from Varhes' rented room in Pokhara.

Similarly, on September 10, the NCB found 939 grams of cannabis in a parcel sent to the Goshwara Postal Office. They arrested Renuka Tamang, a 39-year-old resident of Dadeldhura, when she came to receive the parcel.

The parcel was sent through different layers, police informed.

"During interrogation, Tamang confessed that she was sent by two Indian nationals – Arun Kumar and Mohammad Naim to receive the parcel. The two were arrested later," read the NCB's statement.

Further investigation and legal procedures have been initiated against the six arrested individuals under the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act, 1976.