Kathmandu, November 13:

The acting Senior Superintendent of Police, Hemanta Malla, today urged cargo and courier operators to come up with plans to curb trafficking of narcotics through cargo and couriers.

Addressing an interaction organised by the Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit here, Malla urged the operators to keep track of clients who want their parcels delivered via unusual routes. “You should be careful when clients insist on a particular airline or a route,” he said. Malla said criminals and genuine businessmen can be easily identified by their willingness to pay for the charges.

Malla also asked them to take note of the kind of goods the clients are exporting. “You must inform the police if they are exporting goods to the region where the same are in plenty,” he said. The police official urged the operators to be careful when clients try to export large-sized parcels.

He further suggested the businessmen maintain a record of thier dealings with people.

Malla also lauded the role of cargo and courier operators in netting drug traffickers in the past. He cited an example when a businessman was caught in 2004 trying to send 760 kg of hashish and 2 kg of heroin in a parcel.

Speaking at the programme, advocate Bishnu Prasad Baskota said laws related to drug trafficking are very tough. “You are guilty if drugs are found in your baggage even if you have not the faintest idea where they came from,” he said, adding that cargo and courier operators are more at risk.

President of Nepal Freight Forwarders’ Association, Ramgyal Lama, said interactions like this would help cargo and courier operators remain alert and subsequently curb the illegal practice. “There are numerous instances when employees of the cargo and courier firms have been implicated for trafficking drugs even when the truth remains that they had nothing to do with the entire process,” he said.