KAVRE, JUN 24 -
Whether it is red sandalwood, pangolin or orchid, smugglers use "innovative techniques" to supply these goods into Chinese market through Araniko Highway. As the latest example of this illegal trade, police on Friday night sized a sealed drum containing 51 kg orchid meant to be supplied to Khasa.
Police seized the unclaimed plastic drum from a Sindhupalchok-bound bus (Ba 2 Kha 6251) during a security check at Dhulikhel-2. "We suspected something wrong as nobody claimed the drum," said a police official. Police opened the seized drum on Saturday in the presence of media persons and found the orchid.
Police took handyman of the passenger bus under control for necessary investigation. "We have neither heard nor found any goods being smuggled in a sealed drum. Recovering orchid in such condition reveals that smugglers have made new strategies to supply prohibited goods," said Deputy Superintendent of Police Surendra Prasad Mainali. He said the smugglers changed their way of smuggling goods after police intensified checking of such items along the highway.
A Tatopani-based "businessman" said on condition of anonymity that they had started trading orchid hiding in sealed drum for the past three months to hoodwink police. "Police personnel deployed in the highway have been pretty clever these days. So we have to change the strategies frequently to avert police's confiscation," he said.
Though Nepal, a signatory country of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, prohibits smuggling of orchid, trading of the wild flower is rife along the highway as it reportedly has demand in Chinese markets.
A knowledgeable source said one kilogram orchid costs up to Rs 13,000 in Chinese markets. The protected species of wild plant is useful to make medicine and cosmetics.
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