TIKAPUR, April 8: The Kailali police have arrested 550 individuals in connection with drug-related offenses so far in the current fiscal year. Among those arrested, 519 are men and 31 are women.
According to Inspector Lokraj Joshi, assistant spokesperson at the District Police Office Kailali, the arrests were made in 354 separate incidents across the district. Some of the accused have been released by the court, while the majority have been sent to jail. Further investigations are ongoing.
Police records show that the highest number of cases were recorded in the month of Poush (mid-December to mid- January), during which 59 incidents led to the arrest of 83 individuals: 82 men and one woman.
A similar number of arrests occurred in Magh (mid-January to mid-February), with 54 cases resulting in 71 men and 10 women being taken into custody.
According to data provided by the District Police Office, 33 cases were reported in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August), with 43 men and one woman arrested; 21 cases in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) with 32 men and one woman; 35 cases in Asoj (mid- September to mid-October) with 52 men and 7 women; 36 cases in Kartik (Mid-October to mid-November) with 67 men and 2 women; and 37 cases in Mangsir (Mid-November to mid-December) with 64 men and 2 women arrested.
In Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), 42 cases were reported, leading to the arrest of 56 men and 4 women. As of April 6 in the month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), 37 cases have been reported with 52 men and 3 women arrested, according to Inspector Joshi.
Just this past Sunday night, police arrested four individuals with 3.76 grams of brown heroin.
They were arrested from NS Hotel located in Chhatakpur, of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-3. The District Police Office said that a raid was carried out at the hotel based on information that drug transactions were taking place there.
According to the police, most of those arrested are young men and women. Some minors have also been taken into custody. The individuals were found to be involved in both drug trafficking and consumption. Police recovered brown heroin, which is considered a hard drug, from them.
Authorities say there has been a surge in the brown heroin trade. Although the number of such cases used to be low until a few years ago, most of the recent incidents involve brown heroin. The increase in trafficking has also contributed to a rise in users, according to police.
“Due to the open border, drugs enter the country easily. That has increased the number of users,” said Inspector Joshi, “Police are taking preventive measures.”
Kailali is becoming one of the major districts for drug abuse and trafficking. The easy availability of drugs in Indian border markets has led more Nepali youths to fall into addiction. The open border allows drugs to enter Nepal with little difficulty.
According to the police, the rise in drug abuse has also led to an increase in criminal activities. The growing number of young users has become a serious concern for law enforcement.