SSB personnel patrol the India-Nepal border. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Jan. 13: Professional kidnappers operating in Bihar have been found using Nepal as a safe haven for keeping hostages.

Going by the recent spate of kidnappings, especially in north Bihar, investigating agencies have found kidnappers using the Himalayan country for hiding captives.

Devendra Thakur, the kingpin of a notorious criminal gang operating along the India-Nepal border, made the startling disclosure during interrogation on Wednesday. Thakur was arrested from Pokharia village under Bali police station in Sitamarhi district on Tuesday night in connection with the kidnapping of a medical practitioner Yogendra Prasad.

Sitamarhi superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar Rathi said Thakur confessed to his involvement in over two dozen cases of kidnapping, both from the India and Nepal. “Thakur, the kingpin of a gang active on the porous international border, is involved in at least 11 kidnapping cases in Nepal alone,” Rathi said, quoting the police chief of Malagwa district in Nepal.

Thakur told the interrogators that he had planned to take the kidnapped doctor to Nepal. However, intensive raids on the hideouts of the gang compelled the alleged abductors to set the doctor free in Sonebarsa close to the India-Nepal border. “Everything was finalised and the victim was to be shifted to Nepal on the night he was let off due to police pressure,” Rathi quoted Thakur as saying.

Last August, a 22-year-old man kidnapped from Bettiah in West Champaran district was rescued by a police team from Nepal’s Parsa district. The alleged abductors had demanded huge amount of money as ransom for his safe release. “Several instances of hostages being taken to Nepal have come to light in the past few months,” admitted a senior police officer.

“Kidnappers are using the open border to quietly leave the country with their catch and operate from Nepal,” the police officer said, adding that some of the gangs even enjoyed political patronage in Nepal. To buttress his point, he said one Baban Singh, an MP in Nepal, used to patronise kidnappers from Bihar.

Bihar director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani told The Telegraph he has issued fresh directives to the superintendents of police of the districts along the India-Nepal border to identify the gangs involved in organised crime, especially kidnapping for ransom.

“We are planning to launch joint operations to flush out the abduction gangs active in the bordering areas of the two countries,” he said, adding that the district police officials were preparing the list of the active criminal gangs.

Representatives of both Bihar and Nepal police meet regularly to discuss matters related to border security and trans-border activities. “Police officials from both sides submit the list of wanted crim inals at the meeting of the district-level committee in bordering areas,” Neel Mani said.

But due to lack of extradition treaty between the two countries, Indian criminals, operating from bordering districts have been regularly crossing over to Nepal, the DGP added.