A joint team of the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police has arrested 124 individuals on drug trafficking charges from areas near the Nepal–India border in Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality since mid-July last year.

The rural municipality, which lies adjacent to India, is increasingly being used as a hub for smuggling narcotics, particularly brown sugar, through the porous border, police said.

A trail through dense forest about 500 metres long connects Phutaha in ward 2 of the rural municipality with Balaigaun, an Indian market town, where brown sugar is reportedly sold openly. Police data show that buyers come not only from Bardiya but also from Jumla, Dailekh, Tanahun, Rupandehi, Banke and other districts.

Due to the open border and forest cover, the area has become a convenient passage for traffickers and users of brown sugar, police said.

On Sunday, police arrested Paras Tharu, 22, of Baijanath Rural Municipality-4, Banke, with 1.54 grams of a brown powdery substance suspected to be brown sugar. He was apprehended during a security check at Phutaha in Badhaiyatal-2 while returning from Balaigaun, police said.

On the same day, two others—Suraj Sunar, 26, and Sumit BK, 27, of Madhuwan Municipality-7—were arrested with 1.22 grams of brown sugar while riding a motorcycle from Balaigaun to Kantipur in Badhaiyatal-8.

Earlier, police seized 400 milligrams of the substance from Yuvraj Paudel, 38, of Basgadhi Municipality-5. It was packed inside a green tobacco tin, wrapped in yellow plastic and tied with blue thread, according to police.

Police Inspector Rajesh Sahu of the Area Police Office, Mainapokhar, said 124 people have been arrested for drug offences so far this fiscal year. Police have confiscated 103.32 grams of brown sugar, 12.106 kilograms of hashish and 16.44 grams of cannabis, he said.

Sahu added that 19 people accused in drug cases are currently in custody at the Mainapokhar station. Due to overcrowding, 13 others have been detained at the District Police Office.

In the previous fiscal year, police arrested 108 people, including one woman, for brown sugar trafficking. That year, officers seized 130.55 grams of brown sugar and 32.871 kilograms of hashish.

After Badhaiyatal, Gulariya and Madhuwan municipalities have also emerged as drug trafficking centres, according to police.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakra Damarpal, spokesperson for the District Police Office, Bardiya, said that 183 people involved in smuggling brown sugar and other drugs have been arrested in the district since mid-July. He added that in fiscal year 2023-24, 199 people were arrested on charges related to brown sugar, hashish and cannabis trafficking.

“The open border and easy access to Indian markets where brown sugar is sold freely have made this area a target for traffickers,” DSP Damarpal said. “Due to police vigilance, arrests of both traffickers and users have increased.”

Police said Indian authorities have not taken strict action against traffickers, making towns like Balaigaun and Laukahi convenient destinations for Nepali youths to obtain drugs.