Late at night on the Koshi Highway near the Panipiya forest in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City, police in Sunsari district stopped an ambulance that was hiding 450 kg of marijuana.
The drugs were found hidden in plastic bundles inside the ambulance belonging to the Triveni Cultural Group (Registration No. Ba 2 Cha 9573). The driver abandoned the vehicle in the forest while trying to escape from police checkpoints.
This drug bust took place around 11:30 pm when police were on a night patrol. They spotted the ambulance approaching them from the north along the Itahari-Dharan section of the highway. Instead of stopping for a check, the driver sped past the security barrier.
Realizing they had been seen, police chased the ambulance until it fled into a quiet part of the jungle near the Panipiya forest.
Law enforcement seized both the ambulance and the drugs, and they are now searching for the driver while looking into the ambulance owner’s background.
This incident is part of a worrying trend in narcotic smuggling in the Koshi province. Criminals are increasingly using legitimate delivery vehicles—like ambulances and trucks carrying essential goods—to transport illegal items and avoid roadblocks. According to police data, narcotic enforcement units in Koshi Province have seized over 72,000 kilograms of marijuana in the five fiscal years ending in FY 2025/26, with recent efforts recovering at least 27,671 kilograms.