Kathmandu, February 3

The Narcotics Control Bureau today uncovered a high-tech hashish refinery in the heart of the capital in what officials said was one of the biggest achievements so far in the law enforcement agency’s fight against drug trafficking.

A special team deployed from NCB carried out coordinated raids on three places of the capital and rounded up five suspects with 90 kg ready-to-consume hashish, IRs 48,000, USD 580, Chinese Yuan 170, a Chinese SIM card and various equipment used for refining and packaging the drug, said NBC in-charge DIG Keshari Raj Ghimire.

The hashish is worth approximately Rs 2.7 million in the covert Nepali market, but it can fetch more than Rs 10 million in the international market.

The arrested are: Dil Bahadur Gurung. 58, of Tanahun, currently residing in Dhapasi; Herman Tamang, 37, and Dhan Bahadur Gurung, 30, Nara Bahadur Gurung, 31, of Dhading; and Akkal Bahadur Tamang, 35, of Nuwakot. They were held from Panipokhari, Chabahil and Narayanchowk of Budhanilkantha-12 separately.

The hashish was concealed inside the hardcover of books on Buddhism and the soles of hemp shoes that they had kept ready to smuggle to different European countries.

Their modus operandi was to push the hashish into New Delhi via the open border of Mahendranagar by concealing it the consignment of hemp shoes, books and handicraft.

“They had changed the route to smuggle the drug aboard after police started keeping a tight vigil at Tribhuvan International Airport to catch racketeers trafficking the contraband via courier service by concealing it inside ornamental items, handicraft, postal parcels and garments,” informed DIG Ghimire. SSP Ganesh KC said the gang was operating the high-tech drug refinery, which was designed and set up by Dil Bahadur, a notorious drug kingpin and mastermind of the racket, in the rented house of Herman and Akkal in Narayanchowk.

About Dil Bahadur

• Arrested in June 1, 2002 with 10 kg hashish
• Granted bail of Rs 10,000 by Kathmandu District Court; later acquitted
• Arrested on January 10, 2005 with 669 kg hashish
• Court released him on bail of Rs 900,000
• Sentenced to eight years in jail with a fine of Rs 80,000
• Walked free in 2014
• Arrested on May 11, 2015 in connection with seizure of 50 kg hashish from a taxi in Thankot in 1997
• Released on bail
• Case is sub-judice in court.