KATHMANDU: Police have arrested five Indian nationals on charges of drug trafficking after seizing narcotics hidden inside an Indian-registered car in Pokhara.

The arrests were made on Sunday in Majhuwa, Ward No. 32 of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Kaski District. Those arrested have been identified as 27-year-old Bikash Kumar and 29-year-old Barjali Paswan, both from Sardar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh; 33-year-old Abhakurar Mishra from Araji Basdila, Gorakhpur; 33-year-old Pritam Kumar from Kusumi Bazar, Gorakhpur; and 25-year-old Abhishek Kumar Paswan from Nandnagar Dargahiya, Gorakhpur.

According to Superintendent of Police Durgaraj Regmi, spokesperson for the Narcotics Control Bureau, the suspects were apprehended by a joint team from the Narcotics Control Bureau Branch Office in Pokhara and the Area Police Office, Dandako Nak. During a search of the Indian-registered vehicle (registration number UP53Y 7704), police recovered 1,800 ampoules of Buprenorphine, Diazepam, and Phenergan, along with 510 capsules of Tramadol.

The suspects have been taken into custody, and police have launched an investigation.

In a separate operation, police arrested two men in Sunsari District with 107.4 grams of brown sugar (heroin).

The arrests were made on Sunday in Ward No. 4 of Duhabi Municipality by a team from the Narcotics Control Bureau Branch Office in Biratnagar. The suspects have been identified as 25-year-old Jamaluddin Miya and 25-year-old Imdad Miya, both residents of Ward No. 12 of Dhanpalthan Rural Municipality in Morang District.

Police said the two had brought the brown sugar into Nepal from India. They are currently being held at the Area Police Office in Duhabi as further investigation continues.