MUMBAI: Nepal is quickly becoming “a major transit point” for illegal drugs trade, police officials said on Sunday, in comments published by local media. Police said weak security at the country's only international airport was the cause, the Kathmandu Post reported. “After India opened up a number of new flight routes, traffickers turned their eyes towards Nepal, owing to our poor security management at Tribhuvan International Airport,” Nawa Raj Silwal, head of Narcotic Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit, said. He explained that traffickers were smuggling opium and heroin produced in Afghanistan overland to Pakistan and then to Nepal by air. They would then use local couriers to smuggle the drugs to India, before shipping them overseas. Afghanistan produces more than 80 percent of the world's opium and white heroin. Nepal Police has stressed on the need to increase vigilance on their part to tackle the challenge. More than 30 kilograms of heroin and opium was seized from airport and other parts of the capital Kathmandu in last two years. Narcotics were made illegal in Nepal only in 1978, before which the country was a hub for hippie travelers to indulge in drugs. ** with dpa BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/WU6jb Tags: Drugs, Nepal, Trafficking Section: Health, Latest News, South Asia
