Kathmandu, May 25, 2016: Nepal Police’s Narcotics Control Bureau arrested three foreigners and a Nepali national in possession of 2.683 kg of cocaine.
The contraband fetches Rs 53.6 million in the international black market.
It is one of the biggest seizures of narcotics in Nepal.
The alleged members of a transnational narcotic cartel were held from Kathmandu separately over a period of three days under the Operation Fish, the NCB said.
The suspects are Venezuelan national Mrs Ymeris Carment Narvaez (49), bearing passport number 135190018, Mohamed Lamine Duba (28) with Guinean passport number R645904, Indian national Touhid Khan (30) and Dil Bahadur Gurung (28) of Tanahun, Nepal, according to the NCB.
The transnational cartel involved Nepali, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Nigerian, Venezuealan and Cambodian citizens, the NCB said.
Duba is a citizen of Nigeria with his real name Obinna Austin. He, however, had acquired Guinean passport through forged papers, preliminary investigation revealed.
The transnational drug cartel rooted in Venezuela, according to DIGP Jaya Bahadur Chand, the NCB in-charge.
“Mr John, a Nigerian who is known by his single name, was the origin of the drug that the NCB seized in Kathmandu,†DIGP Chand informed.
The Nigerian man tasked a Venezuelan woman, identified as Catherine, to get the contraband pushed into China by making Kathmandu its transit point, according to the NCB.
Concealing it cocaine in a cavity of rolls of nylon fibre, which apparently is used for weaving fishing net, Catherine allegedly handed over the consignment of cocaine to Narvaez and deployed her to Nepal for its delivery to the cartel members in Kathmandu.
Paid USD 1500 for the job, Narvaez arrived in Kathmandu via Dubai on May 7, according to the NCB’s preliminary investigation.
Acting on a tip-off, Narvaez, however, was detained from a hotel in Thamel of Kathmandu before she could fly back to Venezuela on May 16. Subsequently, Gurung and Khan from Ranibari, and Duba from Chhetrapati were arrested in possession of portions of cocaine.
According to police, Gurung is one of the ‘most-wanted drug smugglers’ in Nepal. He is allegedly involved in smuggling hashish and other narcotics to Hong Kong.
Gurung had allegedly received Rs 1.36 million sent by one Waheed Khan aka Raja Bhai Pakistani, a Hong Kong-based Pakistani drug racketeer, through Touhid Khan for the cocaine that police seized from him. Police confiscated the amount along with cocaine from Gurung’s possession.
According to police, Khan is a drug mule who works for Waheed Khan. He arrived in Kathmandu to collect the contraband from Gurung on May 23. Swallowing hashish capsules, he allegedly had smuggled the contraband to Hong Kong for 20 times in the past.
Doba, who was arrested form Chhetrapati today, on the other hand, was scheduled to fly to China within a couple of days with 1.628 kg of cocaine.
He was assigned to deliver the consignment a Chinese citizen as told by his employer Tochukwu Ogato, a furniture dealer in Lagos of Nigeria, according to police.
