The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In response to a question by The Bhutanese, the Foreign Minister, D.N Dhungyel, gave an update on the case of Sonam Tobgay from Haa arrested in Tibet (China) for alleged drug smuggling. His family has maintained that Sonam was duped into smuggling a tightly packed package which was assured to be traditional medicine. Sonam possibly faces the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The paper asked about the efforts to get information on him and possibly help him.
Lyonpo D.N Dhungyel said, “The smuggling of drugs to China is a serious offence. The government is making every effort to get the individual released back to Bhutan where he will be tried in accordance with our own laws.”
Lyonpo further said,“We want to help, but in such a situation there is nothing much we can do. He was arrested in China in a difficult situation proving that he was carrying drugs to China, and as the world knows, the smuggling of drugs into China is a very serious offence.”
Lyonpo said that while they are working with relevant agencies to bring him back and try him under Bhutanese laws, they are currently not in a position to do so.
“Because the issue is smuggling, we are not in a position to request or get to the authorities, time and again, to ensure his release. What we have been told is that his case has already been conveyed to the authorities in China and they are waiting for the reply,” said Lyonpo D.N Dhungyel.
Lyonpo said they are not in a position to go to them time and again to ensure his release, just because we, as a country, are already in wrong side because he is a Bhutanese.
The minister said they are waiting and hoping that he will be released soon and try him here as per the Bhutanese laws. “We are waiting and hoping that they will be able to give us some information soon,” said Lyonpo.
Background
On 17th December 2024 Sonam Tobgay, 43, from Katsho Gewog, Haa, was caught by Chinese border guards in Tibet (China) carrying a tightly wrapped package.
The package was later found to be around 900 grams of ‘brown-sugar’ or heroin, and Sonam now faces either the death sentence or a very long time in prison in China.
Sonam’s family members in Haa insist that Sonam had no idea what he was carrying, evidenced, as they say, in the fact that the package given to him was tightly wrapped and could not be opened. They say he was told that it was some kind of traditional medicines sought by someone in Tibet.
A family member said that Sonam, a new father, was reluctant to go but he was repeatedly pressurized by a relative to take the consignment to the border, saying that it is only traditional medicines.
They say another evidence is that he was promised only Nu 15,000 to 20,000 for delivering the package at the border, which is quite a low rate if it was hard drugs.
Sonam has two children with the younger daughter being only 9 months old, and his son being 1 year 10 months old when he was arrested in December last year. The daughter is now one year three months old and his older son is now 2 years four months old.
His wife is a housewife and was dependent on Sonam for running the household.
Sonam’s aged parents are also traumatized and they have been seeking help from authorities in Bhutan.
It has been learnt that the Prime Minister took up the matter with the Chinese Ambassador when there was a Cultural Troupe that visited Bhutan a few months ago.
A Foreign Ministry official said that Royal Bhutanese Embassy in Delhi had raised the matter with the Chinese Embassy in Delhi more than a month ago, but the Chinese Embassy has said that they have informed Beijing but no reply has come yet.
If there is no mercy shown and Sonam is executed or undergoes a lengthy prison sentence then he would be the first recorded Bhutanese to undergo such a fate abroad.
