Ivory Coast National Arrested in Kathmandu with Over 1kg of Cocaine Hidden in Child’s Toy

A 35-year-old foreign national, Vamara Kone from Ivory Coast, was arrested with 1.088 kg of cocaine in Kathmandu. The arrest was made by the Narcotics Control Bureau on August 3 at a hotel in Thamel’s Jyatha.

Kone had traveled to Kathmandu from Ethiopia via Qatar Airways. According to Bureau DSP Prem Bahadur Shahi, Kone had swallowed the cocaine to smuggle it into Nepal. Once in Kathmandu, the cocaine, dyed blue, was retrieved from his body and hidden inside a child’s toy doll. The seized cocaine has an estimated market value of 38 million NPR.