Kathmandu, April 26

The number of people possessing illegal small arms is on the rise with the increase in smuggling of such firearms, according to Nepal Police. Police have also warned that easy availability of small arms might pose a serious threat to public security.

The security agency arrested 351 persons with 267 firearms in 2018-19 and 309 persons with 238 weapons in 2017-18. As many as 637 rounds of live bullets were confiscated in 2018-19 against 356 in 2017-18. The data with Nepal Police hint at growing gun culture in the country.

Spokesperson for Nepal Police Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi warned that proliferation, possession and misuse of firearms could give rise to crimes posing a serious threat to lives and property.

Of the firearms seized in 2018-19, 53 were pistols, six revolvers, 44 home-made pistols, 33 factory-manufactured guns and 33 local guns. According to police, criminal gangs usually possess firearms to threaten the victims for extortion, kidnapping and robbery, and to commit murder. Small arms are mainly smuggled into Nepal through the southern border, and people continue to possess home-made pistols and local guns in remote areas of the country, for years.

A pistol fetches arms smugglers up to Rs 100‚000 depending on the need of prospective clients‚ who are mostly extortionists or members of organised criminal gangs, police investigation shows.

Police also confiscated 78.8 kilogrammes of undeclared gold and arrested 137 persons in connection with smuggling of precious yellow metal in 2018-19. Most of the smuggled gold entered Nepal from Gulf countries through Tribhuvan International Airport, Tatopani and Rasuwagadi-Kerung border points. The seizure of gold contributed a revenue of around Rs 450 million to the government.

Police seized 7,510 kg cannabis, 2,507 kg hashish, 6 kg heroin and 17 kg opium in 2018-19. During the period, police apprehended 2,223 absconding convicts and crime suspects from various parts of the country. Police said Community Police Partnership Programme had helped them trace the absconders.