Bhairahawa, October 13

Rupandehi is becoming a safe haven for drug smugglers of late. Drug peddlers are smuggling drugs from India’s Sunauli into Rupandehi via the porous border.

Police had nabbed as many as 254 people involved in drug smuggling and peddling in the district in the last fiscal. Of them, 176 are doing their time in jail. Some have been freed on bail.

Rupandehi District Court Chief Judge Narishwor Bhandari said most of the cases filed at the court were related to drug crimes.

Similarly, as many as 69 persons were arrested on charges of drug smuggling in the last three months of the current fiscal.

Superintendent of Police Hriday Thapa at District Police Office, Rupandehi, said those arrested for drug smuggling were mostly from Rupandehi and adjoining districts.

Most of those arrested are between the ages of 12 and 38 years. “Drug smugglers are being arrested almost on a daily basis after police beefed up security at border points,” Superintendent of Police Thapa added.

According to SP Thapa, area police offices Belhiya, Butwal, Dhakdhai, Marchwar, Lumbini, Salbhandi, Ward Police office Bhairahawa, Butwal, and District Police Office, Rupandehi have stepped up security screening of people entering the country through the border points.

Prescription drugs, which are easily available in India, are banned in Nepal.  Inspector Bir Bahadur Thapa at Area Police Office, Belhiya, said most of those arrested for drug smuggling were from Pokhara and Kathmandu.

Nepal-India Friendship Society founder chair Dr Shant Kumar Sharma said drug smuggling could be controlled if security was tightened along the border areas.