Kashiram Sharma, Banke : The number of narcotics drug users and those involved in its trafficking is found increasing in Banke district over the last few years, police said. The District Police Office, Banke states that the sheer number of people arrested in connection with drug trafficking and abuse, the number of related cases registered in court and the volume of such drugs confiscated by police vindicated to this trend.
As per the statistics of the last three years, the number of drug users and traffickers is found increasing instead of decreasing. Moreover, teenage girls are also found involved in substance abuse and its trafficking. to police, the banned drugs are easily available in the Indian border town Rupaidiha, which is close to the district. It is said that some of these teenage girls who are involved in drug abuse and trafficking due to the influence of their peers are into prostitution also. Teenage girls from the district as well as those from other districts who are living here in course of higher studies or for any other works, are found involved in these illegal activities.
Police stated that 11 teenage girls were arrested on the charge of drug peddling or abuse in the district in fiscal year 2017/18. They were caught up in this bad habit due to their association with their male friends, Police Inspector Rana Bahadur Bista said.According to him, the number of drug users in the district has doubled at present in comparison to their numbers in the last three years. Police arrested 108 people on the charge of drug abuse and trafficking in fiscal year 2015/16 and filed cases in law court against 78 people.
They confiscated 587.68 grammes brown sugar, 30.2 kilogrammes hashish, 935 tablets of Nitrozepam, five kilogrammes of opium  and 15 kilogrammes marijuana in that fiscal year. One hundred eighty-nine persons were arrested on this charge from the district in fiscal year 2016/17 and court cases were filed against 189 of them. Police seized 537.312 grammes brown sugar, 37 kilogrammes hashish, 10.53 kilogrammes opium, 5.2 litres Corex and 975 tablets of Nitrozepam during that period.
Similarly, police have arrested 243 persons on the charge of drug abuse and peddling, and filed court cases against 147 of them so far in the fiscal year 2017/18. Police have confiscated 375.26 grammes brown sugar, 86.25 kilogrammes hashish, 7.2 kilogrammes opium, 100 kilogrammes marijuana, 2650 millilitres Corx, 3,926 tablets of Notrozepam and Nitrovet and 69 tablets of Spam during this period.
Police stated that the drug users and traffickers are attracted more towards tablets among the different narcotics substances because they are easy to carry and conceal. The drugs trafficked from here are supplied to Surkhet, Dang, Dailekh and even to Jumla. Youths from Jumla are also found coming here to smuggle in the drugs from India.
Among the inmates in the District Prison, those convicted of drug trafficking and peddling outnumber the other convicts. Out of the 653 inmates in the district prison, 232 are the convicts of drug related offences, Acting Chief of the Prison, Shyam Lamichhane, said. RSS