RAMESWOR BOHARA

For the past seven years during the conflict, the Suiya border checkpoint in Banke has been known as a den for smugglers and dacoits.

Gangs poached timber from Banke's dense sal forests, taking the logs across the border to India. The Maoists offered them protection during the war and collected their cut.

But with the peace process, police posts were re-established across the country. Here in Suiya, the smugglers and Maoists found their lucrative timber smuggling business threatened by the presence of the police.

At 6.30 in the evening on 30 April a large group of well-known local thugs lead by the Maoist Banke member Nandakishore Pandey attacked the police post with swords and knives. They looted money, valuables, and guns and then set fire to furniture and uniforms. Policeman Purna Bahadur BK fled and hid nearby, and says: "If we hadn't run away we'd have been cut down with swords."

Police in-charge Mukesh Kunwar was captured and detained overnight by Pandey at his house. "It was pre-planned, they wanted us out of there," he told us.

The Muslim-dominated border village has been terrorised by both the Maoists and the smugglers, and most were fed up. "It was becoming impossible to survive here and to protect our women and daughters," says Sadruq Hussain (pictured), "but things had improved somewhat after the police arrived."

However, the lightly-armed police were themselves being threatened by the Maoists and couldn't control the rampant timber smuggling. In fact, two Indian smugglers whom the police had kept in custody were freed by the attackers on Monday night.

Now, the villagers are being terrorised again. Pandey and his cadre found out that villagers and local party leaders had complained to reporters who had arrived from Nepalganj on Tuesday and threatened to kill them. Now the villagers say they don't feel secure and may have to run away.

The Maoists threatened to kill Mohammed Dalil for talking to reporters and said: "If we don't get protection we will have to go across to India for safety." An Armed Police Force unit has been placed in Suiya for now, but it is only a temporary measure.