Staff Reporter 

Gelephu police arrested seven Bhutanese who had visited Tokura village in the neighbouring state of Assam, located half a kilometre from Gelephu-Sarpang highway.  

They were caught on three separate occasions in the past three days. 

On March 30, the police and surveillance arrested two women with tobacco products while they were returning to Gelephu from Tokura village. A Bhutanese man was caught while returning from Tokura village the following day. 

Another two women and two men were caught yesterday as they tried smuggling in tobacco products.

Police said that all of them were quarantined as they had been in contact with people across the border.

According to police, the six who were involved in illegal tobacco possession will be dealt as per the law upon completing the 21-day quarantine period. 

In a separate incident yesterday, Sarpang police caught a Bhutanese man returning from Sarpari. The man was quarantined. 

Meanwhile, since the sealing of Gelephu-Datgari checkpoint on March 23, security personnel and surveillance teams have been deployed at all the entry points in Sarpang. 

However, the surveillance teams are still grappling with the challenge to control the movement of people across the porous border.

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