Police in Sunsari district have recovered more than five quintals of cannabis from an ambulance found on the bank of the Budhi river, taking over 500 kilograms of the banned substance out of circulation in a single operation. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene as officers carried out the seizure and remains at large, with police confirming that a search for him is underway and that further investigation into the case is continuing. The haul, reported by My Republica and RatoPati, stands out both for the volume of contraband involved and for the choice of vehicle, an ambulance being one normally associated with medical emergencies rather than the movement of illegal drugs.
More than half a tonne of cannabis recovered
The scale of the seizure is considerable. A quintal, the unit commonly used in Nepal for weighing bulk goods, is equivalent to 100 kilograms, which means the cannabis recovered in Sunsari weighs well over 500 kilograms, or more than half a metric tonne. Seizures on this scale are generally associated with organized trafficking rather than small-time dealing, although police have not yet said where the drugs recovered from the Budhi river bank may have originated or where they were headed.
What has been confirmed so far is limited. The contraband was found in an ambulance, and the vehicle was recovered from the bank of the Budhi river in Sunsari, a district in the eastern Terai plains of Nepal. Police have not publicly released details such as the ambulance's registration number, the identity of its owner, the exact spot of the recovery or the direction the vehicle is suspected to have been traveling at the time of the operation. Such specifics often emerge only after a case advances, and officials have indicated that further investigation into the matter is underway.
Driver on the run as manhunt continues
According to police, the driver of the ambulance escaped as the operation unfolded, leaving behind both the vehicle and the massive quantity of cannabis it was carrying. Neither official statements nor media reports so far have named the driver, and no arrests in connection with the case have been reported.
A search operation to trace the driver is ongoing. Investigators are also expected to examine the recovered ambulance itself, as the vehicle's ownership papers and travel history could prove central to establishing who organized the consignment and how it was being moved. Tracing the driver is likely to be a priority for police, given that he is, at present, the only person directly linked to the seized cannabis.
What we know so far
- More than five quintals, or over 500 kilograms, of cannabis was seized in Sunsari district.
- The contraband was being transported in an ambulance.
- The vehicle was recovered from the bank of the Budhi river.
- The driver fled the scene during the police operation and is being searched for.
- Further investigation into the case is underway; no arrests have been reported so far.
The bigger picture: drug routes through the Terai
While police have not commented on who may be behind the consignment, seizures of cannabis on this scale generally point to organized networks rather than local trade. Cannabis has a long history in Nepal, growing wild across large parts of the hills and the Terai and remaining legal in the country until it was outlawed in the early 1970s. Today, its cultivation, sale and transport are criminal offenses, and the Narcotic Drugs (Control) Act provides for prison terms and fines that increase with the quantity of narcotics involved, meaning a seizure of more than 500 kilograms falls into the heavier end of the penalties the law prescribes.
Districts in the Terai, the lowland belt that runs along Nepal's southern border with India, feature regularly in drug trafficking cases, as the region's highways and open border make it a natural corridor for goods, both legal and illegal, moving in either direction. Sunsari, which lies in Koshi Province in eastern Nepal, is among the districts through which such routes pass. The use of an ambulance in this case also fits a broader pattern seen in past smuggling incidents in Nepal, in which traffickers have used vehicles considered less likely to draw suspicion, apparently in the hope that they will be waved through routine checks.
For investigators in Sunsari, the immediate tasks are clear: trace the driver, establish the ownership and movements of the ambulance, and determine the source and intended destination of the cannabis. Police have said further investigation is underway, and additional details, including possible suspects and arrests, may be made public as the probe progresses. Until then, the abandoned ambulance on the Budhi river bank serves as a striking reminder of the scale on which cannabis continues to move through the country's transport networks, and of how far those moving it will go to keep their cargo hidden, even if it means using a vehicle designed for saving lives to carry a banned drug.
