Kathmandu, January 22

Police have arrested seven persons with a huge cache of drugs from different places of Kathmandu valley.

According to Central Police News Section, they were held during an anti-drug search and operation today. Police arrested Avinash Yadav, 18, of Parsa, with 300 ampoules of diazepam, phenergan and buprenorphine from Nagdhunga during a security screening of a bus he was travelling in.

Similarly, Ajay Bharati, 22, Sudeep Thakuri, 21, and Raju Giri, 24, of Kathmandu were arrested in possession of 150 ampoules of nitravet and 75 ampoules of diazepam, phenergan and buprenorphine from Nagdhunga check post. They were found using public bus to smuggle the drugs into Kathmandu from Kapilvastu.

In yet another operation, Ramesh Tamang, 18, of Dhadhing was arrested with 815 grams of hashish from Nagdhunga check post. Tamang was on the way to Kathmandu from home village in a public bus.

Separately, police arrested Raju Karmacharya, 26, and Bikesh Nat, 22, of Bhaktapur Municipality with 12 ampoules of diazepam, phenergan and buprenorpine, and seven syringes from Byasi of the same municipality.

Police said all persons held with the contraband would be charged with smuggling and possessing drugs. The Narcotics Control Bureau said prescription drug abuse was rife in the valley. Traffickers supply drugs to Kathmandu via the Nepal- India border.

Of late, racketeers have switched to pharmaceutical drugs from hardcore ones such as cocaine, hashish and heroin. Those found in possession of hardcore drugs get life imprisonment, but those convicted of smuggling prescription drugs need 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. Injectable drugs like diazepam, phenergan and buprenorphine are in high demand among drug users as they are easily available and affordable for users.

The controlled drugs costing around Rs 23 per ‘dose’ across the Indian border is sold for up to Rs 1,500 when brought into Kathmandu.