Armed Police Force intensifies border crackdowns ahead of festivals
The Armed Police Force has seized smuggled goods and thousands of packets of firecrackers in Kanchanpur and Jhapa as it steps up border patrols before the festivals.
Security forces have stepped up surveillance and patrols along Nepal's southern border ahead of the festival season, seizing smuggled goods and firecrackers in Kanchanpur and Jhapa, according to the Armed Police Force (APF).
In Kanchanpur, several APF teams recovered goods brought in from India without paying customs duty, Onlinekhabar reported. A mobile patrol from the Gaddachauki border security post found an electric scooter with a customs value of Rs 150,000 in the Bhansar Road area of Bhimdatta Municipality-10. Other patrols recovered urea fertilizer, tobacco, onions and bidis worth Rs 44,500 at Dipaghat in Belauri Municipality-10 on October 26; electrical goods and curtains worth Rs 64,000 at Brahmadev in Bhimdatta Municipality-9; and groceries, photo frames and soft drinks worth Rs 38,560 in Dodhara Chandani.
The largest single haul was 7,400 packets of firecrackers worth Rs 370,000, found by a joint patrol from the Bhumirajtol and Bayalband border outposts on the embankment near the four-lane bridge in Dodhara Chandani Municipality-1. The APF said the firecrackers will be destroyed; the other goods were handed to the Kanchanpur Customs Office at Gaddachauki.
In Jhapa, the APF's No. 2 Battalion and the units under it seized firecrackers worth Rs 316,590 during patrols and checks at border crossings and checkpoints, Lokaantar and Nepal News reported. The firecrackers were destroyed in the presence of local representatives, Nepal Police and local residents, and a motorcycle used to carry them was handed to the customs office.
Deputy Superintendent Sujit Bista, the battalion's information officer, said patrols, surveillance and vehicle checks along the border had been stepped up to curb smuggling and other illegal activity during the festivals.