Nepal Becomes Transit Hub for Smuggling Watermelon Seeds to India

A recent crackdown by the police in Bhadrapur, Jhapa has revealed a large-scale smuggling operation of watermelon seeds (locally known as ‘mugja’) to India.

According to the police, 948 sacks of watermelon seeds weighing around 37,920 kilograms were seized from the house of Bhimlal Suvedi in Bhadrapur-3 on Ashar 29, 2083.

The market value of the seized watermelon seeds is estimated to be over three crores rupees.

The police investigation suggests that the watermelon seeds were imported from third countries and then smuggled to India via Nepal.

It is alleged that some traders have been declaring the watermelon seeds as ‘agricultural seeds’ to evade higher customs duties.

According to customs officials, the import of watermelon seeds has increased significantly in recent months, with over 17,347 tons of seeds worth over two billion rupees being imported in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

This is a significant increase from the previous year, and officials suspect that most of the imported seeds are being smuggled to India.

The Indian government has imposed quantitative restrictions on the import of watermelon seeds since June 2023, leading to a shortage and higher prices in the Indian market.

As a result, smugglers have been using Nepal’s relatively lax customs procedures and open border to smuggle the seeds to India.

Officials estimate that smugglers can make a profit of over one thousand rupees per kilogram of watermelon seeds by smuggling them to India.

This has led to a surge in the smuggling of watermelon seeds, with many traders who were previously involved in the smuggling of other commodities such as cardamom and cinnamon now turning to watermelon seeds.