In the first week of March, Area Police Office Bahrbise and Armed Police Force Lamosanghu seized electronic cigarettes (Vape) worth about 21 lakh rupees from two cargo trucks in Bahrbise and Lamosanghu.

Last December, about 120,000 vape were seized in the joint efforts of the Revenue Investigation Department and the police. 86 thousand vape were seized from a warehouse of Imadole in Mahalakshmi municipality of Lalitpur based on the information that they were being smuggled into Nepal by evading customs. 19,000 pieces of vape were seized from Korla crossing, 15,000 and 4,000 pieces from Pathalaiya and Butwal respectively.

Last Wednesday, the monitoring team of Commercial Supply and Consumer Protection Department monitored Smile Your Choice and Vepmandu Traders located in Kathmandu Metropolitan City-12. After finding excessive amount of vape during the monitoring, the warehouse and sales room were sealed and documents related to the business were taken and called to the department. The monitoring team said that the vape banned by the government was found and sealed according to Rule 25 (a) of the Consumer Protection Regulations 2076.

If the government's statement and guidelines are followed, the import of vape is banned. Because in 2081 Baisakh, the National Health Education, Information and Communication Center under the Department of Health Services requested various ministries to assist in the process of banning. The center sent a letter to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, the Department of Customs and the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection to stop the import of vape in accordance with the Tobacco Products Control and Regulation Directive-2071.  In sub-section 4 of section 28 of the

directive 2071, there is a provision that 'no one shall be allowed to produce, import, sell and distribute vape, consume it in public places and public transport and promote and advertise it through the media'. A letter was sent to implement the same arrangement. According to the said provision, there is a ban on the import of vape, according to the government agency. But if you look at the government data, vape has been imported. 

In the financial year 2080/81, 281 kg of vape worth 24 lakh 30 thousand rupees entered Nepal. From July to November of the current financial year, VEP worth Rs 10 lakh 64 thousand has been received. As of December, no importation is seen in the customs data. But experts say that it is being imported illegally.

Vape smuggling is increasing in Nepal. Its main use is in India as well as Nepal. Experts say that VEP also goes to India through Nepal transit. "The vape found in Imadol last December was also hidden to be sent to India," said an official of the Department of Commerce, "Although the import is banned, it seems to be coming through the customs border. It is also seen that the trader has imported by issuing a notification letter.' 

In addition to these, the official says that they also entered through smuggling. He says that a vivid example of this is the vape seized by the Revenue Investigation Department in various areas. Based on special information, the Commerce Department has also seized illegal vape. After finding excessive quantity, we sealed the godown," said the officer, "but looking at the document, it appears that the notification letter has been issued. How can it be said that the importation is illegal when the notification is issued? Which rules will take action?' 

After the Ministry of Health asked for a ban through guidelines, the government should have published a notice in the gazette through the Export Import Control Act. But the official said that even though the notice of the ban was not published in the gazette, the confusion increased. Various flavors of vape are available in the market. Traders say that the price of one vape ranges from 1,500 rupees to 25,000 rupees. Jagdish Aryal, Information Officer, Commerce Department, said that the warehouses of Smile Your Choice and Vapemandu Traders were sealed due to excessive amount of vape found there.

He said that the investigation is being sealed and investigated according to Rule 25 (a) of the Consumer Protection Regulations 2076. During the monitoring, excessive amount of vape was found in the warehouse. Since the businessmen could not provide all the details, the statement was started by summoning them with documents,' he said, 'Investigation work is going on.' The guidelines of the Ministry of Health say ban. But there is no restriction in the Export Import Control Act. The notification should have been published in the gazette, but it was not seen. During the monitoring, it seems that the notification of the customs department was given," Dahal said, "Export should have been banned through the Import Control Act, but that did not happen.