NEPAL: DRAFT 2010 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000991

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR INL AND SCA/INSB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: DRAFT 2010 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL
STRATEGY REPORT (INCSR) PART I - NARCOTICS

REF: STATE 97228


1. Summary: Although Nepal is neither a significant
producer of nor a major transit route for narcotic drugs,
some hashish, heroin and domestically produced cannabis and
opium are trafficked to and through Nepal every year.
Nepal's Narcotics Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU)
reports that more Nepalese citizens are investing in, and
taking a larger role in running, trafficking operations.
Customs and border controls remain weak, but international
cooperation has resulted in increased narcotics-related
indictments in Nepal and abroad. Nepalese officials claim
law enforcement efforts have improved in 2009 over previous
years, but limited resources hinder the development of a
robust counternarcotics program. Narcotics-related
legislation has been pending for several years. Nepal is a
party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Status of Country
--------------

2. Police confirm the production of cannabis is on the rise
in the southern areas of Nepal, most destined for the Indian
market. Abuse of locally grown and wild cannabis and locally
produced hashish, which are marketed in freelance operations,
remains widespread. Heroin from Southwest and Southeast Asia
is smuggled into Nepal across the porous border with India
and through Kathmandu's international airport. Legal,
medicinal drugs continue to be abused. Nepal is not a
producer of chemical precursors but serves as a transit route
for precursor traffic between India and China.


3. Monitoring and interdiction efforts have improved since
the official end in 2006 of the Maoist insurgency, which had
obstructed rule-of-law and counternarcotic efforts in many
parts of the country. The Nepalese government has committed
to enhance overall law enforcement; however, the government
has given little attention to narcotics-specific initiatives.

Country Actions against Drugs in 2009
--------------

4. Policy initiatives: Nepal's basic drug law is the
Narcotic Drugs Control Act, 2033 (1976). Under the law, the
cultivation, production, preparation, manufacture, export,
import, purchase, possession, sale, and consumption of most
commonly abused drugs are illegal. The Narcotics Control
Act, amended last in 1993, conforms in part to the 1961 UN
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and its 1972 Protocol by
addressing narcotics production, manufacture, sales, import,
and export. The government plans to amend the Act to
incorporate provisions for psychotropic substances, demand
reduction, treatment and rehabilitation.


5. In 2006, the Home Ministry updated its Narcotics Control
National Policy. Noting the growing incidence of HIV
infection among narcotics-using sex workers, abuse of
narcotics and psychotropic medicines among youth, and illicit
trafficking by organized crime groups, the revised policy
attempts to address these concerns in a more "transparent and
enforceable" manner. It consists of five strategies to
control drug production, abuse and trafficking: (1) supply
control, (2) demand reduction (treatment and rehabilitation
and drug abuse prevention),(3) risk reduction, (4) research
and development, and (5) collaboration and resource
mobilization.


6. To ensure institutional support, the 2006 policy called
for the creation of a Narcotics Control Bureau in the
Ministry of Home Affairs that would include the NDCLEU and a
special Nepal Police Task Force trained in counternarcotics.
As of November 2009, the government has not decided when or
how to implement this Bureau. In addition, the National
Policy restructured a high-level Narcotics Control National
Guidance and Coordination Committee, chaired by the Home
Minister, and a Narcotics Control Executive Committee,
chaired by the Home Secretary. These entities in theory
oversee all narcotics control programs, law enforcement
activities, and legal reforms but appear to be more

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provisional than progressive.


7. Nepal enacted legislation on asset seizures in January
2008 and continues to implement a National Drug Abuse Control
Plan (NDACP),but other proposed efforts still await
legislative approval. Legislative action on mutual legal
assistance and witness protection, developed as part of the
NDACP, has stalled for yet another year. The government has
not submitted scheduled amendments to its Customs Act to
control precursor chemicals. All are pending review by the
Ministry of Law and Justice. Legislation on criminal
conspiracy has not yet been drafted. Police report the
government plans to launch an unspecified program to improve
narcotics control, but continued lack of resources and
funding would render it ineffective. Narcotics officials
claim Nepal's current political instability is not the
primary hindrance to policy objectives; general lack of
political will is.


8. In response to reports from the NDCLEU of increased
trafficking and criminal behavior among tourists, the
government has restricted the travel of several countries'
national to Nepal. Citizens of Nigeria, Swaziland, Ghana,
Zimbabwe, Iraq, Afghanistan, and residents of the Palestinian
territories are unable to obtain visas on arrival. The Home
Ministry and the NDCLEU reported that Nigerians in particular
have traveled on false passports to Nepal, via South Africa
and India, to widen their organized crime network.


9. Law Enforcement Efforts: Limited human resources and
inadequate technological equipment constrain the
effectiveness of the NDCLEU's intelligence and law
enforcement operations. The NDCLEU and Nepal's customs and
immigration services are improving coordination and
cooperation. Narcotics officials admit the destruction of
areas of illicit drugs cultivation is not as effective as it
could be; statistical data indicate a sizeable drop in area
destroyed over each year in 2009, 2008 and 2007. As of
October 2009, 62 hectares of cannabis cultivation were
destroyed, compared to 105 hectares in 2008, 211 hectares in
2007, and 328 hectares in 2006. In contrast, the area of
opium destruction has increased. The NDCLEU reports that as
of October 2009, 35 hectares of opium were destroyed,
compared to 21 hectares in 2008. Data were unavailable for
2007; in 2006, 0.5 hectare (19 plants) of opium was destroyed.


10. As of September 2009, police exceeded the number of
arrests and drug seizures they made in all of 2008. From
January - September 2009, police arrested 675 individuals
(626 Nepalese citizens and 49 foreigners) on the basis of
drug trafficking charges. Most of the individuals who were
non-Nepalese were Indian nationals; the remainders were from
Pakistan, Poland, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mozambique and Iran. No
American citizens were arrested in Nepal for drug trafficking
in 2009. In all of 2008, police arrested 634 individuals
(562 Nepalese citizens and 72 foreigners). Local police made
approximately 86 percent of the arrests in 2009, while the
NDCLEU accounted for the remaining 14 percent. In the same
time period, the NDCLEU and local units reportedly seized
almost 16,000 kg of cannabis, a noticeable increase over the
9,613 kg seized in 2008 and twice the amount (8,093 kg)
seized in 2007. The NDCLEU reports conflicting data for
heroin seizures, between 14 kg and 28.8 kg for January -
September 2009. Most of the seizures were of "brown sugar"
-- low quality heroin smuggled from India. Police made
relatively few seizures of more expensive white heroin from
Afghanistan although noted an increase in 2009 in white
heroin transiting Nepal to foreign markets. Most seizures of
heroin and hashish occurred along the Nepal-India border,
within Kathmandu, or at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International
Airport (TIA) as passengers departed Nepal. The NDCLEU
reported the seizure of 255 kg of opium through September
2009, more than twice the 105 kg documented in 2008. There
were no opium seizures in 2007.


11. Corruption: Nepal has no laws specifically targeting
narcotics-related corruption by government officials,

KATHMANDU 00000991 003 OF 004


although provisions in both the Narcotics Control Drug Act of
1976 and Nepal's anticorruption legislation can be employed
to prosecute any narcotics-related corruption. As a matter
of government policy, Nepal neither encourages nor
facilitates illicit production of narcotics, psychotropic
drugs, or other controlled substances, nor the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions.


12. Agreements and Treaties: Nepal is party to the 1988 UN
Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention, as amended by
the 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic
Substances. Nepal has signed, but has not yet ratified, the
UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the
UN Convention against Corruption. Nepal does not have an
extradition or mutual legal assistance treaties with the
United States.


13. Cultivation/Production: Nepalese drug enforcement
officials noted an increase in cannabis and illicit opium
production in 2009 attributable to the failure of other crops
because of poor weather and environmental conditions.
Cannabis is an indigenous plant in Nepal, and cultivation of
certain selected varieties is rising, particularly in the
lowland region of the Terai. Small-scale cultivation of
opium poppy that exists in Nepal is difficult to detect
because it is intercropped among licit crops. All heroin
seized in Nepal originated elsewhere. Nepal does not produce
precursor chemicals. Importers of dual-use precursor
chemicals must obtain a license and submit bimonthly reports
on usage to the Home Ministry.


14. According to the Home Ministry, there have been no
seizures of precursor chemicals in the past decade. There
have been no reports on the illicit use of licensed,
imported, dual-use precursor chemicals. Nepal is used as a
transit route to move precursor chemicals between India and
China. After the ratification of the SAARC Convention on
Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which holds
countries liable for policing precursor chemicals, the Home
Ministry asserted control over precursor chemicals. The
NDCLEU worked with the Home Ministry to develop a voluntary
code of conduct for importers, cargo shippers, couriers,
manufacturers, and the pharmaceutical industry. Official
implementation of the code is pending as of November 2009.
Additionally, a proposed amendment to the Narcotics Drugs
Control Act regarding the control and regulation of precursor
chemicals remains under review.


15. Drug Flow/Transit: According to the NDCLEU, evidence
from narcotics seizures suggests that narcotics transit Nepal
from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to other countries in
the region and to China, Iran, Europe, the United States and
Canada. In 2008, police for the first time seized 50 kg of
phenobarbitone in transit to Pakistan and 800 grams of
methamphetamine in transit to Iran. Media reports have
claimed that most narcotics are bound for India, and law
enforcement sources indicated that most seizures do occur at
the India-Nepal border. Narcotics officials claim law
enforcement efforts are improving. Nevertheless, customs and
border controls are weak along Nepal's land borders with
India and China, with the Indian border essentially open.
Security measures to interdict narcotics and contraband at
TIA and at Nepal's regional airports with direct flights to
India are also inadequate. The Nepalese government, along
with other governments, is working to increase the level of
security at the international airport. The NDCLEU has noted
an increase in arrests of Nepalese couriers in other
countries in recent years as an indication that Nepalis were
becoming more involved in the drug trade both as couriers and
as traffickers. This also suggests that Nepal may be
increasingly used as a transit point for destinations in
South and East Asia, as well as in Europe. The NDCLEU has
also identified the United States as a final destination for
some drugs transiting Nepal, typically routed through
Thailand, China and Indonesia.


16. Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction: The Nepalese

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government continues to implement its national drug demand
reduction strategy with assistance from the United States,
UNODC, donor agencies, and NGOs. Budgetary constraints and
limited political interest have limited significant progress
beyond donor and NGO-funded education and awareness programs.
The NDCLEU in 2009 conducted three training programs for
field-level officers from a number of GON law enforcement
agencies and ministries. The NDCLEU also began awareness
sessions for postal and courier services.

U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs
--------------

17. Policy Initiatives: U.S. policy is to strengthen
Nepal's law enforcement capacity to combat narcotics
trafficking and related crimes, to maintain positive
bilateral cooperation, and to encourage Nepal to enact and
implement appropriate laws and regulations to meet all
objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention.


18. Bilateral Cooperation: Funding cuts for U.S. law
enforcement assistance programs in Nepal have reduced
technical support and training for police in narcotics
control and related programs. Nonetheless, the United States
is committed to working with Nepalese government agencies to
provide expertise and training in law enforcement. Nepal
exchanges drug trafficking information with regional
neighbors and occasionally with destination countries in
Europe in connection with international narcotics
investigations and proceedings.


19. The Road Ahead: The United States will continue
information exchanges, training, and enforcement cooperation.
The United States will provide support to various parts of
the legal establishment to combat corruption and improve rule
of law, as well as support improvements in the Nepalese
border and customs services. The United States also will
encourage the Nepalese government to enact stalled drug
legislation.
MOON