Four people have been arrested in Sunsari district after police recovered 915 kilograms and 680 grams of marijuana from a house in Jnanodaya Tole of Inaruwa Municipality-4. The haul, equivalent to more than nine quintals, was seized during a morning raid on a house belonging to Bulbul Yadav, which is located near the Hanuman Temple in Inaruwa. The District Police Office, Sunsari, confirmed the arrests and the seizure, with Assistant Information Officer Hemraj Oli making the details public on behalf of the office.
More than nine quintals recovered in morning raid
The quantity of marijuana taken from the single residence stands at 915 kilograms and 680 grams. Since one quintal equals 100 kilograms, the seizure amounts to just over nine quintals, a figure reflected in how the operation was reported by Ratopati as a haul of more than nine quintals. In imperial terms, the recovered drug weighs a little over 2,000 pounds, a scale of contraband that is far beyond anything associated with personal consumption.
The house where the marijuana was stored sits in Jnanodaya Tole of Inaruwa Municipality-4, close to the local Hanuman Temple. Inaruwa is the headquarters of Sunsari district in Koshi Province and lies along the Koshi Highway, a route that links the eastern Tarai with the hill districts further north. Police have not disclosed where the seized marijuana originated, who it was destined for, or how long it had been kept at the house, with such details expected to surface as the investigation progresses.
House owner among the four arrested
Those arrested include 36-year-old Bulbul Yadav, in whose house the drugs were found, along with 23-year-old Santosh Yadav and 30-year-old Ashish Yadav. All three are residents of Inaruwa Municipality-4, the same municipality where the morning raid was carried out.
The three named suspects are:
- Bulbul Yadav, 36: owner of the house in Jnanodaya Tole where the seizure was made
- Santosh Yadav, 23: resident of Inaruwa Municipality-4
- Ashish Yadav, 30: resident of Inaruwa Municipality-4
A fourth person was also taken into custody during the operation, although police have not yet made public the individual's name, age or other details. The arrest of the house owner ties the property directly to the stored consignment, and the fact that all three named suspects are locals of the same municipality indicates the group was based in the very neighbourhood where the drugs were being kept. Police have also not said whether any cash, vehicles or other materials linked to the trade were recovered alongside the marijuana.
Police confirmation and legal process
Information about the raid was provided by Hemraj Oli, Assistant Information Officer at the District Police Office, Sunsari, who confirmed the weight of the seizure, the location of the raid and the identities of three of the four detainees. His statement was carried by Nagarik News and Khabarhub.
The seized marijuana has been taken under police control, and the four men are expected to be proceeded against under Nepal's narcotics laws. Under the Narcotic Drugs Control Act, 2033, the cultivation, sale, purchase, consumption and trafficking of cannabis and related substances are criminal offences that carry terms of imprisonment and fines. Cases involving contraband on this scale typically require extended investigation into the source of the drugs and the network behind them, and the seized substance remains in official custody as the case proceeds.
Context: cannabis trade and the eastern Tarai
Cannabis has been banned in Nepal since the 1970s, when the country prohibited its cultivation, sale and use, but the plant grows abundantly across the Tarai and mid-hills and continues to feed a persistent illicit market. Large consignments are periodically seized from districts across the southern plains, where the open border with India is frequently cited in reporting on cross-border smuggling routes.
Sunsari, in the eastern Tarai, shares a southern boundary with the Indian state of Bihar, and Inaruwa's position on the Koshi Highway places it on a direct transit route between the lowlands and the hill and mountain districts of Koshi Province. Against that backdrop, the recovery of more than nine quintals of marijuana from a residential tole of the district headquarters town is significant by any measure, and the volume clearly points to stockpiling for distribution rather than local use.
Details of any previous criminal records of the suspects were not immediately available. The case remains under investigation, and further information, including the identity of the fourth arrestee and the origin and intended destination of the seized consignment, is awaited as police continue their inquiries.
