Police investigation showed the assailants had used a pistol to commit the crime. The murderers are yet to be arrested.

Similarly, twenty-eight-year-old Dipendra Kumar Chaudhary of Motibhari was shot dead following a dispute with his neighbour on November 23 last year.

The neighbour, Ajit Pandey, had shot Chaudhary five times and fled the scene. Pandey is still at large.

These are just two cases where small weapons were used with the intent to cause grave bodily harm. Use of firearm is unchecked in areas that share border with India, according to Superintendent of Police Deep Shumsher Rana.

According to Rana, firearms are easily smuggled into the district via the open border.

“We don’t have modern security devices to control firearms smuggling. And such weapons are increasingly being used for extortion, abduction and murder. This has become a major security threat in the district,” Rana said.

According to a security source, possession and brandishment of weapons is considered a social prestige in various parts of the district.

“People’s representatives and the civil society leaders should convince the weapon owners to surrender their arms to the authorities,” Rana said.

As per the data available at the District Police Office, security personnel seized two submachine guns, two muskets, three country-made pistols, a Chinese pistol and a total of 203 bullets from various parts of the district in the fiscal year 2018/19. Security officials believe that there are still many illegal weapons in the district.

Many people feel that the law enforcement agency is not doing much to control the smuggling and use of firearms.

“Police only seize illegal weapons if they find them on a person during security checks. Otherwise, they do not have any concrete plans to control illegal firearms,” said a local of Taulihawa preferring anonymity.

Nanda Kishwor Sharma, a businessperson in Krishnanagar, said that the business community in the district has been a victim of extortions and threats by bands of local thugs.

“They (extortionists) threaten us with weapons if we do not pay them,” Sharma said.

Chief District Officer Gajendra Bahadur Shrestha said smuggling of firearms in the border areas has become a major security challenge.

“We will raise the issue during the meeting of the security officers of Nepal and India,” said Shrestha.

***

What do you think?

Dear reader, we’d like to hear from you. We regularly publish letters to the editor on contemporary issues or direct responses to something the Post has recently published. Please send your letters to [email protected] with "Letter to the Editor" in the subject line. Please include your name, location, and a contact address so one of our editors can reach out to you.