The Lahan Area Police Office confiscated 90 kilograms of cannabis from an ambulance in Lahan, Siraha, Monday night.
With growing incidents of drug smuggling across the district, police have intensified surveillance and have started checking the vehicles. In a bid to evade police, the smugglers have, of late, started using even ambulances to carry the contraband.
According to police, an ambulance (Ko 1 Cha 7577) heading east along the East-West Highway was stopped for a security check in front of the Siraha District Traffic Police Office in Lahan.
The space allotted to transport a patient in the vehicle was filled with five large sacks containing the cannabis.
Ambulance driver Saroj Lama, 29, a resident of Dhangadhimai Municipality, was arrested.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and chief of the Lahan Area Police Office Kumar Prasad Mainali said that they had received a tipoff that drug was being carried on a four-wheeler that left Dhangadhimai of the same district.
“We had deployed officers to identify the vehicle and confiscate the drugs. We were not expecting an ambulance,” said DSP Mainali.
According to DSP Mainali, while drugs were smuggled rampantly in motorcycles and public transportation, smugglers are now using ambulances as well.
Similarly, smugglers are also found selling and dealing drugs through their houses, hotels, and lodges.
A week ago, Lahan Police confiscated 2,973 ampules of Phenergan, Diazepam, and Buprenorphine from a room of Sagarmatha Hotel and Lodge located near Lahan Hospital. Local smugglers are found collecting cannabis from the Chure region, packing it properly, and smuggling it to different parts of the country and to India.
Source : TRN,
