05-16-2005, 04:49 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...110676.cms
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'Maoist war funded by drugs in Nepal'
ATHMANDU: Two months after the US government released a report saying Nepal's Maoist insurgents were smuggling drugs to fund their battle against the state, an Indian security official has said the rebels were running drug rings to buy arms.
According to Hemchandra Khakrawal, deputy inspector general Border Security Force (BSF), the communist outlaws are smuggling drugs like heroin and hashish to fund their armed struggle against the Nepalese government.
Khakrawal was in the southeastern city of Biratnagar, near the Indian border, Saturday to attend a press conference organised by Nepalese police.
"The Maoists' financial resources are in a shambles and the price of arms has soared," the Kathmandu Post daily Sunday reported the Indian official as saying. "So they are smuggling drugs like heroin and hashish."
In addition to kidnap to raise money, now the rebels were also smuggling narcotics, mostly to Nepal's southern neighbour India, to raise money, Khakrawal said.
Using people living along the India-Nepal border as pack mules for the smuggling racket, the rebels were also bringing in medicines and pressure cookers from India.
While the medicines are meant for the treatment of cadre injured in armed clashes with the Nepalese security forces, the pressure cookers are used to make bombs.
"One kg of drugs can fetch as much as Nepali Rs 5 million," the media reported the Indian official as saying.
The Indian allegation comes two months after the US Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs released its annual report on narcotics in Washington.
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released on March 6, said the guerrillas were involved in smuggling drugs to India in the absence of laws in Nepal to crack down on drug-related corruption.
The report, quoting Nepal's police, said the production of cannabis was growing in the southern areas of the country, adjacent to the border with India, and most of the crop was sent to the Indian market.
Police, it said, had been intercepting locally produced hashish en route to India in quantities of up to 285 kg at a time.
It also quoted Nepal's Narcotics Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit as saying that the outlaws had asked locals in southern Birgunj city, a hub of commercial activities, to increase cannabis production.
They were also levying "tax", ranging to nearly 40 percent, on cannabis production in some areas, the report said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
'Maoist war funded by drugs in Nepal'
ATHMANDU: Two months after the US government released a report saying Nepal's Maoist insurgents were smuggling drugs to fund their battle against the state, an Indian security official has said the rebels were running drug rings to buy arms.
According to Hemchandra Khakrawal, deputy inspector general Border Security Force (BSF), the communist outlaws are smuggling drugs like heroin and hashish to fund their armed struggle against the Nepalese government.
Khakrawal was in the southeastern city of Biratnagar, near the Indian border, Saturday to attend a press conference organised by Nepalese police.
"The Maoists' financial resources are in a shambles and the price of arms has soared," the Kathmandu Post daily Sunday reported the Indian official as saying. "So they are smuggling drugs like heroin and hashish."
In addition to kidnap to raise money, now the rebels were also smuggling narcotics, mostly to Nepal's southern neighbour India, to raise money, Khakrawal said.
Using people living along the India-Nepal border as pack mules for the smuggling racket, the rebels were also bringing in medicines and pressure cookers from India.
While the medicines are meant for the treatment of cadre injured in armed clashes with the Nepalese security forces, the pressure cookers are used to make bombs.
"One kg of drugs can fetch as much as Nepali Rs 5 million," the media reported the Indian official as saying.
The Indian allegation comes two months after the US Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs released its annual report on narcotics in Washington.
The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released on March 6, said the guerrillas were involved in smuggling drugs to India in the absence of laws in Nepal to crack down on drug-related corruption.
The report, quoting Nepal's police, said the production of cannabis was growing in the southern areas of the country, adjacent to the border with India, and most of the crop was sent to the Indian market.
Police, it said, had been intercepting locally produced hashish en route to India in quantities of up to 285 kg at a time.
It also quoted Nepal's Narcotics Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit as saying that the outlaws had asked locals in southern Birgunj city, a hub of commercial activities, to increase cannabis production.
They were also levying "tax", ranging to nearly 40 percent, on cannabis production in some areas, the report said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->