Locals blocked the road on Tuesday to protest against drug dealers after a brother who had come to the border Indian market Laukahi after consuming drugs died. Locals had blocked the Nepalgunj-Gulariya road section in Gulariya Municipality-11, Ganeshpur.

Police had reached Ganeshpur to clear the blocked road. While the police and the people's representatives were discussing the road opening, the police opened fire in the air after locals suddenly started throwing stones at the police.

DSP Pramesh Bista said that 9 rounds of air fire and 4 rounds of tear gas were fired to disperse the crowd of protesting locals. He said that 9 protesters who threw stones at the police were taken into custody. The road that had been blocked since morning was reopened at 12 noon.

Chief District Officer Gogan Bahadur Hamal said that 12 policemen were injured in the clash. ‘Seven Nepal Police and five Armed Police personnel have been injured,’ said Pradya Hamal, ‘11 have been discharged after treatment at Bardiya Hospital. One person has been sent to Nepalgunj for further treatment due to injuries to his face and head.’ He said that locals should also help in controlling drugs.’ Bishnu Yadav, Ward Chairman of Gulariya Municipality-11, said that six locals were slightly injured in the clash. ‘Drugs are sold openly in the border market, and brothers have died after consuming them there. The locals had protested demanding that the traders selling and distributing drugs in the border Indian market Laukahi should be brought under the ambit of action in coordination with the Indian police, and that smuggling and drugs from the open border should be controlled,’ he said. ‘The clash occurred when the police used force on the same issue.’ He said that the police should increase surveillance at the border checkpoint, provide free treatment to the locals injured in the clash, and immediately release the nine people who were taken into police custody.

Brothers die from drug abuse

Last Friday, Suresh Khatik, 36, and Bahuran Khatik, 30, of Gularia Municipality-11 Oripur, had gone to the Indian border market at Laukahi. They are brothers.
Both of them, who returned from Laukahi in the evening, were sleeping at their respective homes. After Suresh felt unwell at night, he told his family that he had consumed a drug called 'Corex' and the family members gave him lemon water, said his relative Bipin Sonkar. 'Even though we were at home in the village, we did not know about the incident,' he said. 'We were informed at 3 am that both of them were unconscious.'

An ambulance was called and both of them were rushed to the hospital in Kohalpur. During treatment, the doctor declared Suresh dead at 8 am. Bahuran was also in critical condition. He said that he was referred from there because the ICU bed was not available and was admitted to Kanti Arogya Hospital in Nepalgunj. Bahuran died at 8 am on Monday during treatment. Dr. Roma Bohara, director of Kanti Arogya Hospital, Banke, said that he died due to poison. 'The postmortem report shows what kind of poison it was. The poison has already affected his heart and lungs. We were not able to save him despite our efforts,' she said.