Bihar: Charas worth Rs 50 crore seized in Gopalganj, three Nepalese arrested

PATNA: Police seized altogether 265 kilograms of charas kept inside a secret compartment created in a pickup van after intercepting it near Balthari check-post on NH-28 under Kuchaikot police station area in Gopalganj on Sunday morning.
Police also arrested three persons hailing from Nepal who were travelling inside the van along with the charas consignment.
Police said the arrested persons had been identified as Prakash Kumar Kurmi and Vicky Kumar Srivastava of Ranighat and Vinay Kumar Sahni of Madhwal, all located in Parsa district of Nepal.
Kuchaikot police station SHO Ashwani Kumar Tiwari said that the quantity of charas seized is one of the biggest made in state in last several years.
The SHO said that the estimated international price of the entire drug consignment of at least Rs 50 crore.
“Police had received intelligence input that a drug consignment is to be smuggled from Nepal via Gopalganj after which stern vehicle checking operation was taken up at several locations,” he said.
Tiwari said that during the checking, police stopped a pickup van at the Balthari check post between 6.30am to 7am on Sunday.
“During checking and verification, police found that the registration number of the van is actually of a tractor,” he said.
SHO Tiwari said that this raised suspicion after which vehicle was thoroughly inspected during which a hidden compartment was found between the driver’s cabin and the carriage section inside which charas was kept hidden.
He said that the consignment was to be delivered to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh via Gorakhpur.
“Arrested Vinay was the owner of the entire consignment. It was to be delivered to another drug smuggler of Bareilly,” he said adding further investigation were going on in connection with the case.