According to police the recovered opium would fetch around rupees 5 crores in international market. [break]
Police has recovered five kg of contraband narcotic from Dilmaya Thapa(35) and Susmita Pun (29) of Banke , Kohalpur-2. Police had searched the drug-peddlers duo as they were found to be walking in suspicious state. They were arrested from Ramghat, Sallaghari.
According to Surkhet Police Chief, Superintendent of Police (SP), Govinda Ram Pariyar, Police was able to impound the drug along with peddlers after working on the intelligence information and investigation on it. The women have conceded that they took the job of smuggle the opium out from Ramghat to Kohalpur for the five thousand rupees each.
“Incidences lately has proved that the illegal drugs dealers have increasingly been using women to smuggle the drugs out,” said Pariyar adding , “ Smugglers are found to be using women as drug peddlers as woman´s body is difficult as well as people assume that women hardly take part in crime”.
“I used to work as a labor in a building under construction. One day an elderly man came to me proposing new job with good amount of money. I took this job but now I am noosed for it,” said Dilmaya. She also said that she did not know the elderly man properly.
However Susmita said that she worked as per the instruction of Dilmaya , who is like sister in relation to her. According to police , the duo has left Ramghat in Kurta Salwar but had donned in Sari reaching near Chinchu to hide the Opium in Patuka( a piece of traditional cloth worn around the waist).
Police have recovered 2.8 kg and 2.3kg opium from Susmita and Dilmaya respectively, according to Inspector Birendra Kumar Yadav of District Police Office. Yadav also informed that if anyone found guilty of carrying more 100 grams of Opium, they will face a lifer as per the Narcotic Drug Control Act.
Police has suspected Dilmaya that she can be more that a mere porter of the drugs as call details of her showed that various numbers made long calls after midnight.
Village-made opium
After the huge narco haul, Police has suspected that there might be the machine installed in the villages for the processing of opium. According to police the recovered opium is of high quality which can be processed to brown sugar or white sugar. “Through the chain of correspondences this opium is sent to India via Tarai districts. After final processing, the two kinds of Sugars returns back to this place itself,” said SSP Pariyar.
Destroying Opium cultivation is not enough
Last year, Police had destroyed opium in Kalyan Village Development Committee cultivated in 200 ropanis of land. Police had informed that 90 percent of the household in the ward no 5, 6, 7, 9, 8 had cultivated opium. Government has banned in dealing with opium as it is used for the contrabands drugs like Heroin, Cocaine, and Brown sugar. Opium cultivator can are fined from 5000 to 200,000 and will face at least 10 years imprisonment, however lack of awarness, is cultivation is on the rise.
According to sources, Indian narcotic drug dealers are inspiring locals for the opium production. “ They took the raw material collected from Nepali villages and send back the final product to Nepal itself after processing,” the source said.
Related story
A village’s journey from opium to vegetable and livestock farmi...
