KATHMANDu, July 11

Police on Saturday arrested a man, who was trying to smuggle hashish to Hong Kong by carrying it in the stomach, from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

Yubaraj Gurung of Kathmandu was preparing to board a Nepal Airlines plane bound for Hong Kong at around 10:30am when police detained him for X-ray scanning on his body after they became suspicious of his nervous behaviour during security check.

According to the police, X-ray scanning detected hashish inside capsules in his stomach. He was administered laxative to expel the drugs.

Anti-drug officials have purged 35 hashish-laden capsules from Gurung. The hashish was found to be in swallowable and non-digestible capsules.

The hashish recovered from him weighs around one kg. Official also raided his house in Bohoratar and confiscated 28 more capsules filled with hashish.

Gurung has been kept in police custody to proceed with further investigation.

Hashish fetches more than $20,000 per kg in Hong Kong compared to Rs 15,000 in Nepal’s illegal drug market.

Demand of Nepali hashish is high in the international market due to ‘its quality’.

Smuggling of drugs through the country’s only international airport of late has increased.