Two Indians held with 380 kg cannabis in truck at Bharatpur
Chitwan police arrested driver Anil Giri, 45, and helper Rajpal, 30, at Aanptari in Bharatpur on 19 December 2023 with about 380 kg of cannabis in 28 packets under a false bottom in their truck. Police call it ganja, one wire account calls it hashish, and one outlet puts it at 396 kg.
Chitwan district police arrested two Indian nationals at Aanptari in Bharatpur
Metropolitan City-1 on Tuesday morning, 19 December 2023, during a routine check
of trucks.[1]The two were identified as Anil Giri, 45, and Rajpal, 30, both
from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.[2]Anil was the truck’s driver and Rajpal his
helper.[2]
Police recovered about 380 kg of cannabis, which the official Nepal Police
statement calls ganja and other outlets call marijuana.[3]The NDTV wire
account, carried by India’s Press Trust of India, described the same 380 kg as
hashish.[2]The Himalayan Times put the haul at 396 kg of marijuana.[4]
The load was packed in 28 packets and hidden under a false bottom built into the
front side of the truck.[2]Police stopped the Indian truck, registration JH
02 W 9631, while it was carrying the drug from Muglin toward Narayangadh.[4]The Himalayan Times said a police team headed by SP Rameshwor Karki made the
arrests, and that DSP Bijaya Raj Pandit, spokesperson for the District Police
Office Chitwan, briefed reporters.[4]
Nepal Police said it was still carrying out the necessary investigation.[3]Chitwan police said further investigation into the matter was under way.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Sources disagree on the substance: Nepal Police and Republica describe the load as ganja (marijuana), while the PTI copy carried by NDTV calls the same 380 kg hashish. Cannabis is used here, following the police statement.
The Himalayan Times, quoting District Police Office Chitwan spokesperson DSP Bijaya Raj Pandit, gives 396 kg, while Nepal Police, Republica and NDTV give 380 kg.
The sources disagree on Rajpal's age and home address: NDTV and Nepal Police say 30, while The Himalayan Times gives 37 and a village under Kailadevi, with different spellings of the district and place.
No charge, remand decision or court outcome was reported after the arrest.
Police arrested nine people for possessing illegal drugs in separate operations across seven districts of Nepal, the Central Police News Room said. Only one case involved cannabis: about 80 kg of ganja found with a 55-year-old man at Balan Khola in Siraha, while the rest turned up brown heroin, brown sugar or prescription medicines.
The Kathmandu Valley Police Office in Ranipokhari reported 444 drug-related cases and 378 arrests in the first three months of the fiscal year, mid-July to mid-October, part of a wider law-and-order campaign in the Valley. Its account named cannabis among the drugs seized but gave no weight for it, grouping it with heroin, pollen and nearly 296,000 ampoules and tablets.
Nepal's Narcotics Control Bureau arrested two Indian nationals at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport with six kilograms of ganja flown in from Thailand. The pair, a woman from Ghaziabad and a youth from Madhubani, were caught during airport screening with two passports and four phones seized; questioning and investigation continue.
Police arrested five people while about 210 kg of marijuana in eight sacks was being loaded into two Scorpio vehicles in Chyandanda, Dharan. Officers fired two rounds in the air as the group tried to flee before taking them into custody.
