NARAYAN AKAZI SHRESTHA NACK AS FOREIGN MINISTER Kathmandu, 6 June: Narayan Kazi Shrestha took over charge as foreign minister Monay from Ishwor Pokhrel of IML, a foreign ministry statement said. Shrestha will give continuity to ongoing reforms, the ministry said. nnnn GUNA AIRLINES TO RESUME FLIGHTS THURSDAY Kathmandu, 6 June: Guna Airlines will resume flights Thursday. Operations were suspencd from 11 Marcch for repar of aircraft fleet. nnnn MOTHER USES OWN CHILD FOR TRAFFICKING Kathmandu, 6 June : Various modus operandi (MO) come to light with the frequent seizures of narcotic substances. But what Geeta Devi Patel (Kurmi) has done is quite rare, Sundar Khanal writes in Republica. Patel was recently arrested in the capital while using her six-year-old daughter to transport a sizeable amount of brown sugar. The Indian national from Motihari, Bihar had been involved for the last five years in drug trafficking, especially transporting the contraband across the Indo-Nepal border via Raxaul-Birgunj, and also carrying it up to the capital. Though pretty well aware what she did was illegal and very harmful to others, she was not very apprehensive about falling into police hands. “I would do it whenever they (racketeers) asked me to. I did not care what they gave me to transport. I knew I was not doing something right though,” she told reporters. The wiry woman said that she took to drug trafficking because of poverty and a spendthrift husband who would snatch away all her income to spend on liquor. Now that she is going to be indicted, she wants to send her daughter back to her husband, a rickshaw puller in Birgunj. Patel had been renting a small place at Bishwas Tole in Birgunj some four years ago when she come in contact with racketeers. A team from the Narcotic Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) arrested the 30-year-old from Kalanki in Kathmandu, allegedly in possession of 614 grams of brown sugar, which is worth Rs 3 million. What astounded the narcs was the way she was transporting the contraband. “A girl child walking in front of her was holding a Horlicks bottle with the contraband concealed beneath a layer of Horlicks powder,´ said SSP Nawaraj Silwal of NDCLEU. “One would hardly imagine that a mother would use her own child as a cover for such work,” he added. The arrest comes close on the heels of some major drug busts that give some idea of the pervasiveness of drug use and trafficking in the country. A couple of weeks ago, NDCLEU arrested Devendra Rokka, a hashish racket kingpin who has since been grilled about his international operations. Subsequent raids resulted in arrests and seizures that indicate trans-border channels in drug trafficking. “We are trying hard to break the supply chain. But society cannot get rid of this problem until and unless the demand is suppressed,” Silwal Said. nnnn. ________________________________________ NEPAL, CHINA TO REINFORCE BORDER WITH TIBET Kathmandu, 6 June : Nepal and China have agreed to develop district-level mechanisms in order to bolster security on the Nepal-China border, Republica reports. The two sides reached such an agreement during joint secretary-level talks between the two countries held in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), last week. The proposed mechanism is expected to ensure coordination between the two sides and exchange information on real time basis to check illegal activities on the border. Joint Secretary at the home ministry Shankar Koirala, who led the Nepali delegation, said the Chinese side proposed to develop a mechanism at district level to curb unwanted activities along the bordering areas. “We have asked them to bring a proposal through a diplomatic channel,” he said. Nepali delegation comprised of representatives from the home ministry and foreign ministry and one deputy inspector general level officer each from the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force (APF) and the National Investigation Department (NID). Major General of the People´s Liberation Army Yue Jun led the Chinese delegation during the talks. District level mechanism between bordering districts of Nepal and India are already in place to curb cross-border crime. Once the Chinese proposal comes into implementation, Nepal will have similar mechanisms in the districts bordering China. Koirala said the meeting mainly dwelled on smuggling of drugs, wild life trophies, and checking other criminal activities on the border. “The two sides have also agreed to share information through diplomatic channels,” said a participant at the meeting. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana is visiting Beijing on June 25 to attend the highest level bilateral talks on border security issues. “The meeting will mainly discuss ways to check various cross-border crimes on the Nepal-China border,” said Koirala, who is also spokesperson for the home ministry. The home secretary-level talks between the two countries is held every two years. nnnn ________________________________________