Kathmandu, January 4:

Officials at the Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit at New Baneshwor said today that they were yet to identify the mastermind behind the attempt to smuggle 268 kg of hashish to New Delhi.

The unit yesterday seized the narcotics from a bus bound for New Delhi from Halchowk and a truck at Satungal and arrested the drivers of the vehicles. “There is no doubt that this was an organised effort. It might take some days to identify the mastermind,” SP Hemanta Malla said. According to him, the arrested drivers have not been giving consistent statements regarding whom they were working for. “They are telling that two persons, who had come to the capital on the truck, had asked them to conceal the narcotic in the bus and the truck,” Malla said. “The two persons had taken the name of a bus owner as well,” Malla quoted the arrested drivers as saying. “The drivers are not giving clear statements,” he added. Police said the narcotic was brought to capital from Dhading.

“India is not the final destination of the drug. Drug rackets are nowadays using land routes of India and China to smuggle drugs to third countries like Afghanistan,” DSP Dibas Udas said.