Kathmandu, July 23

Narco police have arrested seven persons on the charge of drug trafficking in separate operations carried out in Kathmandu over a period of two days.

The suspects held with controlled pharmaceutical drugs are Dinesh Thapa, 26, and Padam Ale Magar, 27, of Kavre; Chhiring Lama, 23, Milan Lama, 27, and Bijay Tamang, 33, of Sindhupalchowk; and Subarna Kunwar, 28, of Kavre and Abik Thapa, 18, of Lalitpur.

According to Narcotics Control Bureau, Dinesh and Padam were arrested from Budhanilkantha in possession of 2,367 ampules of injectable drugs such diazepam and buprenorphine. NCB said Padam was a repeat offender and was released from jail in 2016 after serving two years.

Similarly, Chhiring, Milan and Bijay were held with 742 ampuples of diazepam, phenergan and buprenorphine from Jorpati. In the third operation, Subarna and Abik were arrested from Koteshwor in possession of 105 tablets of nitravet.

NCB warned that prescription drug abuse was rife in Kathmandu Valley. Traffickers supply drugs to Kathmandu via Nepal-India border. Of late, racketeers were found to have switched to pharmaceutical drugs from hardcore ones such as cocaine, hashish and heroin.

Those found in possession of hardcore drugs get life imprisonment and their property is confiscated. But those convicted of smuggling pharmaceutical drugs needs to spend only around three years in jail.

According to NCB statistics, teenagers and college students account for the largest section of end users of pharmaceutical drugs. An ampule or tablet of the prescription drugs is sold at around Rs 500 against Rs 1,000 for one gram of heroin in the illegal market. Injectable drugs diazepam and buprenorphine are in high demand among drug users as they are easily available and affordable for users.