KATHMANDU, July 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 3,702 cases of drug trafficking were registered in Nepal in the Nepali fiscal year 2018/19 that ended in mid-July, according to the statistics of Nepal Police.
As per the data provided by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the Nepal police, the cases of drug trafficking increased in the fiscal year 2018/19 in comparison to the previous fiscal year. The data showed that there were a total of 3,088 cases in the fiscal year 2017/18.
NCB Spokesperson Superintendent Krishna Prasai told Xinhua on Tuesday that the cases related to drug abuse and trafficking increased across the country despite police crackdown.
Nepal's only international airport Tribhuvan International Airport and the open border points with neighboring India were being used for drug trafficking, according to the anti-drug agency.
Altogether 5,558 people were arrested in the drug trafficking cases throughout the fiscal year including 5,357 Nepali nationals, 185 Indian nationals and 16 other foreign nationals.
Most of the cases were related to cannabis, hashish, heroin and opium and controlled pharmaceutical drugs. More than 10,000 kg of cannabis were seized alone while nearly 3,000 kg of hashish were seized in a year. Though people used to be arrested with cocaine in the previous years, not any case was registered about it last year.
The record showed that the number of drug related cases was significant compared to other sort of crimes such as suicides, accidents, thefts, rapes and murders in the country.
The bureau said different proactive measures were adopted for the arrest of traffickers and seizure of narcotic drugs.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the annual growth rate of drug users in the country is around 11.36 percent. Records showed that around 150,000 youths are now involved in drug addiction in Nepal.
