By Nayak Paudel
Kathmandu, July 21: Acting on a special tipoff, the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Nepal Police deployed a team under Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Yogendra Kumar Khadka to Hetauda, Makwanpur.
The team then arrested a man, whom the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) identified as 44-year-old Ratna Bholan, from Ward No. 2 of Hetauda Sub Metropolitan City with 5.7 kilograms of opium.
Bholan, a resident of Makwanpur, was stopped while he was walking around Sangam Chowk. Officers seized the opium from his bag.
The bureau's team then presented Bholan to the Makwanpur District Police Office as the arrested area was under their jurisdiction. Further investigation is under way.
The Nepal Police data show that they confiscated a total of 39.937 kilograms of opium in 2017/18; 34.229 kilograms in 2018/19; and 44.374 kilograms in 2019/20.
However, in the last fiscal year 2020/21, Nepal Police had seized a total of 260.989 kilograms of opium until June 14. The amount of opium seized in the last fiscal year was far higher than that confiscated in the past three fiscal years combined.
On September 26, 2020, a team from the NCB's headquarters in Kathmandu and its branch in Kaski had confiscated 10.5 kilograms of opium from three individuals in Pokhara. Gaj Pun, 50; Chakkar Bahadur Pun, 40; and Rabi Gurung, 24, were the ones arrested.
"Gaj Pun was a focal person who has been involved in opium smuggling in eastern and western Rukum for a long time," read the bureau's statement on the arrest.
Just a month later of the trio's arrest in Pokhara, a team from NCB headquarters reached Banke and arrested a man with 10.4 kilograms of opium with the help of its branch office in Nepalgunj.
The arrested individual was identified as 37-year-old Tilak Bahadur Shahi. He was arrested from Ward No. 8 of Khajura Rural Municipality.
The confiscation of over 10 kilograms of opium from a single place shows the extent of its smuggling, said the NCB officers.
"The massive quantity of opium seizure in last fiscal year shows the activeness of the units and its officers. The bureau has been improving its resources to bust the drug smuggling rackets in Nepal," said Superintendent of Police (SP) Jeevan Shrestha.
There are eight branch offices of the NCB across Nepal actively investigating to bust smuggling rackets. The teams from the bureau's headquarters reach places outside the Kathmandu Valley only when the tipoff or investigation leads to a big haul.
"Opium production takes place in Nepal itself while some amounts are smuggled from India as well. The smugglers have been found to be delivering opium in different parts of the country based on the ease of transporting it," said SP Shrestha, who is also the spokesperson for NCB.
Opium is a highly addictive narcotic drug acquired in the dried latex from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) seed pod and is illegal in Nepal.
A study report by the Narcotics Drug Control Section under the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that the number of opium users in Nepal is more than that of cannabis users. The study was conducted over 91,534 drug users and among them around 26 per cent were opiates (drugs relating to opium) users.
The data related with the confiscation of opium and that of the consumption shows that opium demand has increased in Nepal. However, the authorities have assured of busting drug smuggling and intensifying awareness to motivate teenagers and youths to keep drugs at bay.