Last Saturday, a teacher at a private school in Sarlahi was arrested for drug possession.

Raja Hussain, a teacher at Rajdevi Boarding School in Ishwarpur Municipality, was arrested from the school premises in possession of Nitrovet tablets, marijuana and a brass knuckle. He is currently in the custody of the Kesharganj Area Police Office for further investigation.

The arrest is not a one-off incident in Sarlahi. The district has of late become a major transit point for drug trade, police say. “Drug dealers are taking advantage of the open border to buy drugs from India, take them to the hilly areas, and sell them there,” said SP Naresh Raj Subedi of the District Police Office. “They are using local residents to carry contrabands and sell them locally.”

The involvement of even school teachers in drug trade is a worrying sign, says Subedi. “This inadvertently encourages students to use drugs,” he said. “If contraband is so easily available, it won’t be long before students get involved in the use, buying and even selling of drugs.”

About three months ago, students of Balgovind Janata Secondary School in Kawilasi Municipality Ward 2 were invited to visit a private school in Nawalpur for two days. The students visiting the private school were accused of using marijuana during their trip.

While educators put the blame on the guardians, the latter find fault in the government mechanism and lack of security checks and monitoring in border areas.

“Drug addiction is spreading in the school due to the carelessness and weakness of the parents,” said Badrinarayan Mishra, principal of Balgovind Janata Secondary School. “Parents must play a more engaging role in the lives of their children. We can only keep an eye on them when they are at school. But when they are outside school, we can’t control what they do or don’t.”

Rajnikant Jha, a local resident, says the inefficiency of concerned authorities to monitor border points where drug trade takes place has led to the easy availability of contraband in the villages.

“Police personnel are the only ones trying to stop illegal drug use. But they alone can’t stop this growing problem among young people,” said Jha. “All levels of government must start taking this matter seriously because it affects our children.”

According to the data of the district police, 113 people have been arrested in 88 drug cases in Sarlahi in the current fiscal year. In the fiscal year 2021-22, 126 people were arrested in illegal drug cases.

“Drug control is becoming increasingly challenging for us due to the open border and limited manpower,” said Subedi from the District Police Office. “The local police and those in border security are doing their best to control the transportation of drugs through the open border but we haven’t been able to do that completely.”