BANKE, Jan 31: The rate of drugs abuse and smuggling dropped by 13 percent this year compared to the previous year.
According to Narcotics Control Bureau, branch office Nepalgunj chief, police inspector Bir Bahadur Thapa, effective information mechanism, strict security check, police activeness and the establishment of Bureau branch office are among the factors discouraging the drugs abuse.
Combined efforts sought to control drug abuse
An open border between Nepal and India poses a challenge for the control of trans-border drugs smuggling. Bearing this in mind, the police have intensified its action against the crime. Brown sugar, corex, and nitrazepam tablets are among those banned drugs being entered into Nepal unlawfully from the Indian border while marijuana and cannabis are primarily supplied to India from Nepal illegally.
Security mechanisms from both countries have increased the border surveillance and its results are being achieved, said police inspector Thapa. However, its control is really challenging as perpetrators do not hesitate to find out alternative ways to commit the crime. They hide contraband in their privy parts, mouth and in other body parts. Though drugs smuggling in a large is being reported less, illegal transportation in small scale continues.
In the first six months of the current fiscal, the District Police Office Banke took action against 163 drugs abusers. Some 200 inmates at the District Prison, Banke face the cases under drugs abuses. There are seven rehabilitation centers/homes in the district targeting drugs abusers.
A campaigner against drugs abuse Abhiraj Chhetri underscored the need of rehabilitating the drugs abusers in the society.
