Nepal Police Arrest 2,319 Fugitive Offenders in May Operation

Kathmandu. Nepal Police has arrested 2,319 fugitive offenders involved in various cases during a special operation conducted nationwide last May. The police have brought to legal scrutiny offenders who were convicted by the court and had remaining sentences to serve, as well as those who had been evading the law for a long time. According to the Police Headquarters, among the arrested fugitive offenders, the highest number, 730, were from Madhesh Province, followed by 366 from the Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, 330 were from Lumbini Province, 326 from Koshi Province, 204 from Gandaki Province, 199 from Bagmati Province, 84 from Sudurpashchim Province, 68 from Karnali Province, and 12 were arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) team. The arrested fugitive offenders have resulted in the execution of a total of 825 years, 2 months, and 25 days of prison sentences, and a fine of Rs 215,369,110 has been collected from them. The police have been conducting special operations to arrest those convicted in cases including homicide, narcotics, rape, banking offenses, and fraud. In the same one-month period, Nepal Police also arrested 40 individuals involved in illegal arms cases across the country. Among those arrested, 14 were from Gandaki Province, 9 from Lumbini Province, 8 from Karnali Province, 3 each from Kathmandu Valley and Sudurpashchim Province, and 1 each from Koshi, Madhesh, and Bagmati Provinces. The police recovered a total of 29 illegal firearms from the arrested individuals, including 21 single-shot guns, 2 katuwa pistols, 2 air guns, 1 Chinese pistol, 1 regular pistol, 1 revolver, and 1 other gun. Along with the weapons, 263 rounds of SLR ammunition, 70 rounds of ammunition for various guns, and 1 round of ammunition for a Chinese pistol were also recovered from their possession and storage. Police have concluded that such illegal weapons are used in serious crimes like smuggling, murder, kidnapping, robbery, looting, extortion, and poaching of rare wildlife. To build a crime-free society, the police have intensified information gathering to control illegal firearms and neutralize their traders. The police have also requested the general public to immediately report any information about hidden illegal weapons and to hand over such weapons to the police.