Himalayan News Service

Bhairahawa, January 20:

Cases of Nepalis workers being robbed while returning from India are on the rise along the Sunauli-Gorkhpur railway and bus routes. A recent victim of this looting spree was Krishna Bahadur Rayamajhi who was returning home after working in Mumbai for about 18 months.

“I fell unconscious after I ate a samosa offered by a fellow passenger while I was heading to Sunauli from Gorakhpur. Later I realised I was robbed of Rs 16,000,” Rayamajhi, who is undergoing treatment at the Bhim Hospital in Bhairahawa, said. More than 10 Nepalis have been robbed here in the past one week.

Modus operandi of the robbers is to lace food and drinks with drugs to sedate passengers before polishing off the booty. The Border Police Post in Belhiya informed that Krishna Bahadur Shrestha of Syangja was robbed of Rs 10,500, Bin Bahadur Adhikari of the Lamjung of Rs 25,000, Keshav Bahadur Budhamagar of Baglung of Rs 12,000 and Indra Bahadur Bishwokarma of Rs 11,000 in just one week. Some 200 Nepali workers were robbed on the Nepal-India border town last year, the police records reveal.

Superintendent of Police (SP) in the district police office in Rupandehi Dhak Bahadur Karki while expressing his concern over the increasing cases of robbery, said, he would raise the issue with his Indian counterpart stationed at Maharajgunj in India.

Nepal-India meet on border crime

Bhairahawa:

Disturbed by the rising incidents of robbery along the Indo-Nepal border, officials of India and Nepal have decided to launch a joint crack down. Officials of both countries met at Belahaiya on the border on Thursday. The meeting was attended by security officials of Nepal’s Rupandehi district and India’s Maharajgunj district, said SP Dhak Bahadur Karki, Rupandehi district police chief.

The two countries have decided on the crackdown after frequent complaints by Nepalis who said they were looted on the border while returning to Nepal. — HNS