Police fired seven rounds after drug dealers attacked them with an iron rod during an attempted arrest in Tokha, Kathmandu, it has emerged.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of Nepal Police had been investigating drug dealers for some time. Acting on intelligence, a police team was deployed around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The team initially detained two individuals from a street in Sundhara, Kathmandu, said Senior Superintendent of Police Krishna Koirala, chief of the bureau.
Upon questioning them, police received information that two others were planning to sell brown heroin behind Grande International Hospital in Tokha.
Following the lead, police reached the area behind Grande Hospital around 3:15 p.m., where they recovered 200 grams of brown heroin hidden inside a speaker.
SSP Koirala said that police then tried to detain two suspects, but were attacked with an iron rod.
“The suspects struck the police with a rod, after which the police opened fire. Initially, they fired shots in the air, but when that didn’t work, they had to shoot at the dealers,” he explained.
Police Senior Head Constable Nawaraj Ghising suffered injuries to his left knee in the attack, while Police Assistant Head Constable Rabindra KC sustained injuries on his right arm.
Police first fired four shots in the air, but when the suspects became aggressive and continued to attack, three more rounds were fired to arrest them, SSP Koirala said.
The bureau earlier arrested 25-year-old Chandan Kumar Jaiswal and 20-year-old Sumit Kumar of Danapur, Patna, India, from Sundhara.
Later, two more suspects—40-year-old Sashik Alam and 22-year-old Manjur Alam, both from West Bengal, India—were arrested from Tokha.
Both sustained injuries to their left legs and were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The bureau has launched further investigation into the incident.
