Once a quiet roadside stop along the East-West Highway, Bardibas in Mahottari has grown into a bustling town with modern amenities, thanks largely to the operation of the BP Highway, which links it directly to Kathmandu. As more people from the hills and plains settled there, building homes and businesses, Bardibas saw a rapid urban expansion.

Alongside this development, the town has also emerged as a critical junction for drug trafficking in recent days.

Bardibas is now a major transit point for smuggling marijuana from Nepal’s hill districts into India and bringing controlled pharmaceutical drugs illegally from India into Kathmandu. According to the Area Police Office in Bardibas, drug traffickers have even set up storage facilities around the town. Schools, residential areas, and even local shops have been affected, with reports of students using marijuana and households storing up to 20 kilograms at a time.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bikash Bam of Bardibas Police Office said that their regular patrols have increasingly found drugs being transported in four-wheelers, indicating the strength and coordination of the smuggling networks. “Even students from reputed schools are getting involved,” he said, highlighting the need for stronger awareness and prevention efforts.

The open Nepal-India border has facilitated the movement of banned substances, with Nepali youths traveling to India to consume or smuggle prescription drugs. Marijuana grown in the Chure hills is being stored in Bardibas and then smuggled into India via nearby towns like Gaushala, Ramgopalpur and Jaleshwar.

Recent police operations have uncovered large quantities of marijuana. Last Friday alone, police seized 40 kg of marijuana from a car in ward 11 of Bardibas Municipality and 107.9 kg from another car in Ramgopalpur. On the same day, two individuals were caught with 20 kg of marijuana on a motorcycle en route to Jaleshwar.

In another major bust, police confiscated 158 kg of marijuana from a Mahindra Scorpio near Shubha Swastik Hospital in Bardibas last week.

These are only a few examples from the past week. According to Mahottari police, marijuana smuggling via vehicles like cars, motorcycles, and SUVs is occurring almost daily. Over the past 10 months, police have seized more than 26.86 quintals of marijuana from 13 vehicles, filing 27 cases against 37 individuals.

In the last fiscal year 2023-24, police seized 12.96 quintals of marijuana and filed 10 cases in Mahottari. Not only in Mahottari, marijuana smuggling is rife in all eight districts of Madhesh Province. A total of 135.69 quintals of marijuana were confiscated across the province over the past 10 months, with the figures steadily rising year after year.

Superintendent of Police Heramba Sharma of Mahottari Police believes Bardibas has become a focal point for traffickers due to its short distances, good road access, and the availability of small vehicles for quick transport. Much of the marijuana seized in Mahottari reportedly comes from Makawanpur, further illustrating Bardibas’s growing role in regional drug trafficking.