In a meeting held in the Indian State of Bihar just before Dashain festival, chief of 18th battalion of the Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), DN Bemboi, expressed concern that Nepal-India border at Saptari was turning into a major transit point for trafficking in drugs and humans. 

In the meeting, attended by a number of Nepali journalists, Indian lawmaker Ranjit Ranjan claimed that a strong network of traffickers of human and drugs was active in the region. Around a year ago, SSB had nabbed a nine-year-old Indian boy while he was trying to cross Kunauli border at Saptari in his attempt to enter Nepal with 500 packets of drugs worth Rs 200,000. 

The boy called Mahhomad Dilsakh was not carrying the drugs in a bag. The injections and drugs were stuck to his thighs, stomach and back. In his statement, the boy said that a local businessperson had promised him some money for doing the job. 

Between October and January of 2013, the Nepal Police arrested over a dozen drug users and recovered some narcotics from them in raids conducted in several parts of Saptari district. The police said that it was in indication that drugs use was growing in the district alarmingly. 

Although records at the customs office at Tilathi in the district do not show drugs being imported to Nepal in huge quantities, a staff of the office said that the situation is just the opposite. 

“There are so many ways to sneak drugs into Nepal. The volume of drugs being brought into the country illegally is certainly on the rise,” he said. According to the staff at the customs office, drugs worth Rs 4 million comes to Nepal from India through several border points in Saptari district every month. 

Requesting anonymity, a policeperson in Saptari said the district is indeed turning into a major transit hub of drugs. He said that Indo-Nepal border in Saptari is swarming with drug peddlers and users from other districts. “We have neither been able to carry out regular monitoring nor take strong action against the smugglers,” said a policeman, conceding the weakness of security agency in controlling the situation. 

Drug abusers, who tend to be mostly youths, have been relying on certain cough syrups and injections to get high. Although a lot of such syrups that contain high percentage of alcohol are banned both in Nepal and India, they are easily available on both sides of the border. The youths say that even injections can be easily purchased from the border areas. 

Noticeably, the smugglers have started to use children and woman as mules for carrying drugs across the border. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Kedar Dhakal, the police have stepped up vigil in the area. “We have intensified the efforts to curb the problem. However, it is not easy due to the open border,” he said.

Published on: 1 November 2014 | Republica