Dhankuta, September 9
Police in Dhankuta have seized a truck carrying a large quantity of banned marijuana.
Police recovered 1,240.6 kg of marijuana from the truck. According to Hemant Bhandari Chhetri, information officer at the District Police Office, Dhankuta, the truck carrying the marijuana was intercepted during a checkpoint operation on the Koshi Highway at Phedi, Sangurigadhi Rural Municipality-7, last night.
A team deployed by the Armed Police Force Nepal’s Disaster Management Base at Mulghat had stopped truck number Na 4 Kha 527, which was heading from Dhankuta toward Bhedetar, for inspection. However, police said that as the team signalled the truck to stop, the driver suddenly jumped out and fled.
DSP Rajesh Phuyal, chief of Armed Police Force Nepal Battalion No. 6, Dhankuta, said that after the driver’s behaviour raised suspicion, the Armed Police called in a team from Nepal Police’s Mulghat police post, and a search of the truck turned up a large quantity of marijuana.
After the marijuana was found, police took the truck and its contents into custody and brought them to the District Police Office, Dhankuta. Police said the total weight of the marijuana, when measured at the district police office, came to 1,240.6 kg. Meanwhile, the District Police Office, Dhankuta, said a search is underway for the driver who fled after jumping from the truck.
Police said they have intensified surveillance and checkpoint operations based on recent information that large quantities of marijuana are being trafficked through the Dhankuta section of the Koshi Highway.
