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FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3741
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 4920
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0334
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 3169
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4555
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UNCLAS KATHMANDU 002955 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS, INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KTFN NP
SUBJECT: 2006-2007 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY 
REPORT: NEPAL 
 
REF: SECSTATE 157084 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. Although Nepal is neither a significant producer of, nor a 
major transit route for, narcotic drugs, 
domestically-produced cannabis, hashish and heroin are 
trafficked to and through Nepal every year.  An increase in 
the number of Nepalese couriers apprehended by the police 
suggests that Nepalis are becoming more involved in 
trafficking.  Moreover, Nepal's Narcotics Drug Control Law 
Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) reports that more Nepalese citizens 
are investing in and taking a larger role in running 
trafficking operations. Customs and border controls remain 
weak, but international cooperation has resulted in increased 
narcotics-related indictments in Nepal and abroad. The 
ongoing Maoist insurgency has hindered interdiction and 
monitoring efforts in many parts of the country. New in 2006, 
the Government of Nepal adopted a Narcotics Control National 
Policy that calls for the creation of a Bureau of Narcotics 
Control in the Ministry of Home Affairs, to include a special 
Nepal police taskforce trained in counter-narcotics. 
Legislative efforts are also underway to increase control 
over the trafficking of precursor chemicals between India and 
China. Nepal is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.  End 
Summary. 
 
Status of Country 
----------------- 
 
¶2. Police confirm that production of cannabis is on the rise 
in the southern areas of the country, and that most is 
destined for the Indian market.  Abuse of locally grown and 
wild cannabis and locally produced hashish, marketed in 
freelance operations, remains widespread.  Heroin from 
Southwest and Southeast Asia is smuggled into Nepal across 
the open border with India and through Kathmandu's 
international airport.  Licit, codeine-based medicines 
continue to be abused. Nepal is not a producer of chemical 
precursors but serves as a transit route for precursor 
traffic between India and China. 
 
¶3. The ongoing Maoist insurgency has obstructed rule-of-law, 
interdiction and monitoring efforts in many parts of the 
country.  The Maoists are most likely involved in drug 
smuggling to finance their insurgency.  Nepal's Narcotics 
Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) reports that 
Maoists have called upon farmers in certain areas to increase 
cannabis production and have levied a 200 Nepal Rupees per 
kilogram (approximately USD 2.75) tax on cannabis production. 
 The inaccessibility of areas due to the insurgency has also 
skewed the NDCLEU's statistics. 
 
COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS IN 2006 
------------------------------------- 
 
Policy Initiatives 
------------------ 
 
¶4. Nepal's basic drug law is the Narcotic Drugs (Control) 
Act, 2033 (1976). Under this law, the cultivation, 
production, preparation, manufacture, export, import, 
purchase, possession, sale, and consumption of most commonly 
abused drugs is illegal. The Narcotics Control Act, amended 
last in 1993, conforms in part to the 1961 UN Single 
Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its 1972 Protocol by 
addressing narcotics production, manufacture, sales, import, 
and export. 
 
¶5. In August 2006, the Home Ministry drafted a Narcotics 
Control National Policy, and the Cabinet is reviewing it. 
Noting the growing incidence of HIV infection among 
narcotic-using sex workers, abuse of narcotics and 
psychotropic medicines among youth, and illicit trafficking 
by organized mafia, the new policy, an update of the 1996 
Narcotics Control National Policy, attempts to address these 
 
concerns in a more "transparent and enforceable" manner.  It 
consists of five strategies to control drug production, abuse 
and trafficking: (1) supply control, (2) demand reduction 
(treatment and rehabilitation and drug abuse prevention), (3) 
risk reduction, (4) research and development, and (5) 
collaboration and resource mobilization. 
 
¶6. To ensure institutional support, the policy calls for the 
creation of a Narcotic Control Bureau in the Ministry of Home 
Affairs, to include the NDCLEU as well as a special Nepal 
Police Taskforce trained in counter narcotics.  In addition, 
the policy would establish a high-level narcotics control 
national guidance and coordination committee and a narcotics 
control executive committee, both chaired by the Home 
Minister.  The policy would also set up an autonomous body to 
create a National Drug Demand Reduction Campaign involving 
awareness and advocacy programs. 
 
¶7. Nepal is actively implementing a National Drug Abuse 
Control Plan (NDACP), but other proposed efforts still await 
legislative approval.  Legislative action on mutual legal 
assistance and witness protection, developed as part of the 
NDACP, has stalled for a fifth year. The government has not 
submitted scheduled amendments to its Customs Act to control 
precursor chemicals.   Legislation on asset seizures, drafted 
in 1997 with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 
assistance, is also awaiting approval.  All are under review 
by the Ministry of Law and Justice.  Legislation on criminal 
conspiracy has not yet been drafted. 
 
¶8. In response to reports from the NDCLEU of increased 
trafficking and criminal behavior among Nigerian tourists, 
the Home Ministry has sent the MinistryQf Affairs a proposal 
to restrict the travel of Nigerians to Nepal.  The Home 
Ministry and the NDCLEU reported that Nigerians travel on 
false passports to Nepal, via South Africa and India, to 
widen their organized crime network and traffick heroin, 
humans and arms. 
 
Law Enforcement Efforts 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. The NDCLEU has developed an intelligence wing, but its 
effectiveness remains constrained by a lack of communication 
and surveillance equipment in rural areas.  Coordination and 
cooperation among NDCLEU and Nepal's customs and immigration 
services, while still problematic, are improving.  The 
reallocation of resources to fight the Maoist insurgency and 
the lack of security in the countryside have hampered crop 
destruction efforts.  While the amount of destroyed areas of 
illicit drugs cultivation has been fluctuating since 1991, 
final statistical data for 2005 indicate that destruction of 
cannabis plants has declined since 2004.  In 2005, 4 hectares 
of opium and 121 hectares of cannabis cultivation were 
destroyed, compared to 231.5 hectareQof cannabis destroyed 
in 2004. 
 
¶10. The NDCLEU reported that it is responsible for arresting 
35 percent of the prisoners in Nepali jails.  In 2005, the 
Nepal Police arrested 33 foreigners on the basis of drug 
trafficking charges.  From January-May 2006, police arrested 
16 foreigners and 138 Nepalese citizens. In the same time 
period, the NDCLEU and local units reportedly seized 1,574 
kilograms of cannabis - more than the amount of cannabis 
seized in all of 2005 (1,532 kilograms).  The NDCLEU also 
seized 6 kilograms of heroin in this period, compared to the 
9 kilograms seized in 2005.  The NDCLEU further reported the 
seizure of 63.7 kilograms of hashish (54.3 kilograms in 2005) 
and 2.5 kilograms of heroin (1.6 kilograms in 2005) at 
Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) from 
January-May 2006. Most seizures of heroin and hashish in 2006Qoccurred along the Nepal-Indian border, within Kathmandu, or 
at TIA as passengers departed Nepal.  Seizures of illicit and 
licit, but illegally abused, pharmaceuticals in January-May 
2006 were higher than 2005 levels. 
 
Corruption 
 
---------- 
 
¶11. Nepal continues to have no laws specifically targeting 
public narcotics-related corruption by senior government 
officials, although both provisions in the Narcotics 
(Control) Drug Act of 1976 and Nepal's anti-corruption 
legislation can readily be employed to prosecute any 
narcotics-related corruption.  As a matter of government 
policy, Nepal neither encourages nor facilitates illicit 
production or distribution of narcotics, psychotropic drugs, 
or other controlled substances, nor the laundering of 
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. 
 
Agreements and Treaties 
----------------------- 
 
¶12. Nepal is party to the 1998 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 
UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 
1972 Protocol, and the 1993 South Asian Association for 
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Narcotics Drugs 
and Psychotropic Substances.  The Cabinet has signed the 
latter and it is now in the House awaiting ratification.  In 
addition, as agreed upon at the May 2006 SAARC Summit, the 
Home Ministry set up a SAARC Drug Offenses Monitoring Desk at 
TIA.  Nepal has signed, but has not yet ratified, the UN 
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN 
Convention against Corruption. 
 
Cultivation/Production 
---------------------- 
 
¶13. Cannabis is an indigenous plant in Nepal, and cultivation 
of developed varieties is rising, particularly in lowland 
areas.  There is some small-scale cultivation of opium poppy, 
but detection is difficult since it is interspersed among 
licit crops.  Most opium comes from neighboring countries in 
South and Southeast Asia.  Nepali drug enforcement officials 
reported that all heroin seized in Nepal originated 
elsewhere.  Nepal does not produce precursor chemicals. 
Importers of dual-use precursor chemicals must obtain a 
license and submit bimonthly reports on usage to the Home 
Ministry. 
 
¶14. According to the Home Ministry, there have been no 
seizures of precursor chemicals since 1997.  There have not 
been reports of the illicit use of licensed imported dual-use 
precursor chemicals.  Nepal is used as a transit route to 
funnel precursor chemicals between India and China.  With 
ratification of the SAARC Convention on Narcotics Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances, which holds countries liable for 
policing precursor chemicals, the Home Ministry said it 
planned to assert control over precursor chemicals.  These 
chemicals are currently under the jurisdiction of the 
Ministry of Health and are not carefully monitored for abuse. 
 
 
Drug Flow/Transit 
----------------- 
 
¶15. According to NDCLEU, evidence from narcotics seizures 
suggests that narcotics transit Nepal from India, Pakistan, 
and Afghanistan to other countries in the region and to 
Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Media reports have claimed that 
most narcotics are bound for India, and law enforcement 
sources indicated that most seizures occur at the India/Nepal 
border. The NDCLEU said customs and border controls were weak 
along Nepal's land borders with India and China, while the 
Indian border was essentially open. Security measures to 
interdict narcotics and contraband at TIA and at Nepal's 
regional airports with direct flights to India were also 
inadequate.  The Government of Nepal (GON), along with other 
governments, is working to increase the level of security at 
the international airport, and the Nepal Army is detailed to 
assist with airport security.  The NDCLEU took the increase 
in arrests of Nepalese couriers in other countries as an 
indication that Nepalese were becoming more involved in the 
drug trade both as couriers and as traffickers, and that 
 
Nepal may be increasingly used as a transit point for 
destinations in South and East Asia, as well as Europe 
(Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland). The NDCLEU has also 
identified the United States as a final destination for some 
drugs transiting Nepal, typically routed through Bangkok. 
 
Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction) 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶16. The GON has continued to implement its national drug 
demand reduction strategy in association with the Sri 
Lanka-based Colombo Plan, the United States, UNODC, donor 
agencies, and NGOs. However, resource constraints have 
limited significant progress. 
 
U.S. POLICY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS 
------------------------------------ 
 
Policy Initiatives 
------------------ 
 
¶17. U.S. policy is to strengthen Nepal's law enforcement 
capacity to combat narcotics trafficking and related crimes, 
to maintain positive bilateral cooperation, and to encourage 
Nepal to enact and implement appropriate laws and regulations 
to meet all objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The 
United States, NDCLEU, and other donors work together through 
regional drug liaison offices and through the Kathmandu 
Mini-Dublin Group of Countries Offering Narcotics Related 
Assistance. 
 
Bilateral Cooperation 
--------------------- 
 
¶18. The United States works with GON agencies to help 
implement Nepal's master plan for drug abuse control and to 
provide expertise and training in enforcement.  Nepal 
exchanges drug trafficking information with regional 
neighbors and occasionally with destination countries in 
Europe in connection with international narcotics 
investigations and proceedings. 
 
The Road Ahead 
-------------- 
 
¶19. The United States will continue information exchanges, 
training, and enforcement cooperation; work with the UNODC to 
further enhance the efforts of the NDCLEU and support their 
demand reduction and social rehabilitation efforts; provide 
support to various parts of the legal establishment to combat 
corruption and improve rule of law; and support improvements 
in the Nepali customs service. The United States will also 
encourage the GON to enact stalled drug legislation. 
MORIARTY