KATHMANDU: Police opened fire in Siraha on Friday during an operation to apprehend a gang involved in smuggling brown sugar from India into Nepal, resulting in the arrest of one suspect by a joint team from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Siraha branch and the Area Police Office, Maheshpur.

According to Bureau Superintendent of Police (SP) Durgaraj Regmi, 35-year-old Abdul Kalam from Madhubani in Bihar, India, was arrested after sustaining a gunshot wound to his left leg in Nabarajpur Rural Municipality-5. SP Regmi informed that four smugglers were actively trading brown sugar at the site, and when police attempted to take them into custody, Kalam fired one round at the officers using a domestic country-made pistol (Katuwa Pestol).

In response, the police fired two warning shots into the air, and when Kalam ignored the warnings, they shot him in the leg. Police recovered 115 grams and 20 milligrams of brown sugar, along with the country-made pistol and two rounds of ammunition from Kalam’s possession.

While the injured suspect is currently undergoing treatment at the Provincial Hospital in Siraha, the other three smugglers fled the scene, and a manhunt is underway to apprehend them.