 |
Nepal Economy |
|
|
 |
|
Smuggling
goes unchecked in a secret trail to Barabise
|
|
 |
A
rarely-used and almost non-policed trail traversing through towering mountains'
cliffs in the remote northern part of this district is serving as a safe
passage for smugglers dodging the custom point at Tatopani (picture) - near the Nepal-China
border.
The
smuggling activities are evident at broad day-light as businessmen hire
porters and local people to carry their goods through the secret route
that leads to Barabise Bazaar in Sindhupalchowk District. |
A
rarely-used and almost non-policed trail traversing through towering mountains'
cliffs in the remote northern part of this district is serving as a safe
passage for smugglers dodging the custom point at Tatopani (picture) - near the Nepal-China
border (picture).
The
smuggling activities are evident at broad day-light as businessmen hire
porters and local people to carry their goods through the secret route
that leads to Barabise Bazaar in Sindhupalchowk District.
At
least six such groups used the route to smuggle in imported goods from
the Tibet Autonomous Region of China during the first week this month.
A group of such porters carrying electronic goods including TV sets, VCR,
among others arrived at Dolangsa (map). After hardly resting in the village for
few minutes, these porters vanished in the nearby rhododendron jungle with
their smuggled goods. "This has become a routine feature here. Sometimes
they even bring big refrigerators," said Zangbu Sherpa, a local at the
village. "In the beginning, the locals used to be inquisitive about the
goods they brought. Now everyone knows what is going on."
After
the smuggled goods reach the Barabise Bazaar (picture), they are whisked off to Kathmandu
in vehicles - most of them are either carried by containers or by hired
professionals disguised as passengers in buses and lorries. Two huge rocks
- known as Devdhunga atop a hill - that can be sighted from here is through
where the locals enter into this Valley that hosts a village Bigu - renowned
for its Bigu Monastery (picture) with 60 Buddhist nuns.
"Before
it used to happen only in the night, nowadays the smugglers do not hesitate
to transport the smuggled goods even at day time." So frequent smuggling
has become in this route that some locals in the villages enroute have
even begun to rely on the smugglers to earn their livelihood. These locals
hike to the northern mountains and carry back the smuggled goods to Barabise for businessmen.
And
what makes smugglers so daring to carry out their activities even at day-light
is the virtually non-existing policing in the route. With not a single
police post in the area, smuggling simply goes on facing no obstruction.
The last police post in the area was at Bighu till last year. "We
have no idea what is happening in the route since there is no police movement
there," said the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Barabise Police
Station.
"We
cannot monitor the area because of the Maoist problem." That is the
reason, according to locals, why police-patrolling has been confined to
the Barabise town in the west and in Charikot (website) in the south of this valley.
Not that the local administration is unaware of the situation.
Mobile
teams of Revenue Investigation Department have time and again seized smuggled
goods in the Arniko Highway (photo gallery) - linking Kathmandu(photo gallery) to Tatopani via Barabise (picture).
"Most of these seizures have been from passengers," confirmed Durga Prasad
Rai, Deputy Director General at the Revenue Investigation Department. And
the majority of these passengers are no other than the hired ones of the
smugglers trying to get the goods to Kathmandu. These "labourers" are readily
available at Barabise - to carry the smuggled goods either from the Nepal-Tibet
border through the smuggling route to Barabise, or to Kathmandu. "Businessmen
often take these porters from here and smuggle in the imported goods,"
said a restaurateur at Barabise who has been residing there for the last
twenty years. "There are many persons here who take charge of smuggling
in the goods using porters and the businessmen use them to get their jobs
done."
Report:
2000
| Information |
|
 |
|
Nepal |
|
