Two foreigners arrested with 1.9 kg cocaine
Kathmandu, January 19
Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested two foreigners, including a Thai national, with 1.9 kg cocaine worth around Rs 40 million in the international drug market.
The alleged associates of the transnational drug racket nabbed from a Thamel-based hotel yesterday are Bolivian national Freddy Mamani Andia (passport number 9051567) and Thai national Khuanjai Khanarat (passport number AA9155823). Both of them are 28 years old.
NCB in-charge DIG Thule Rai said undercover cops tracked the Bolivian man to the hotel and arrested the two while they were handing over and receiving a suitcase containing the drug.
“The destination of the cocaine was Thailand. The Thai woman had been allegedly tasked by her boyfriend of Sierra Leone and currently living in Bangkok with the responsibility of receiving the suitcase from the Bolivian and taking it home,” he informed. Khanarat was unemployed and in love with the Sierra Leone national.
The anti-drug agency of Nepal Police had made an arduous effort to dismantle a layer of the transnational drug racket rooted in Bolivia, DIG Rai said. The consignment of the cocaine had been brought to Kathmandu from Bolivia through Brazil, Ethiopia and New Delhi.
During interrogation, the Bolivian told NCB officials that he was a mechanic in an auto workshop and was asked by one of his clients to carry the contraband to Kathmandu and hand it over to the Thai national. He was promised USD 3,000 in wage.
The Bolivian man and the Thai woman had arrived in Kathmandu on January 12 and January 17 respectively and met at the hotel. According to NCB, they did not know each other and they were provided with special identity by their bosses.
According to NCB, it has busted three Bolivia-rooted drug rackets and seized around eight kg cocaine in one-and-a-half years. Non-drug users are found transporting cocaine to various destinations by making Nepal their transit for a petty amount. Cocaine is often known as ‘a rich person’s drug’ and is not consumed in Nepal due to its high price, officials said.
