KATHMANDU, July 21: The police arrested nine people on suspicion of their involvement in the smuggling of over 100 kg of gold that was seized while being smuggled through the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Wednesday evening.
The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) recovered the gold that was hidden in brake shoes of scooter and motorbikes after it had passed the TIA customs office from Sinamangal in Kathmandu. The smugglers were found escaping the TIA customs and used a cab with registration number Ba 2 Ja 2324 to flee away with the smuggled precious metal.
Of the arrested, four people were detained on Wednesday, while five others were arrested on Thursday. They include one Indian national and a Chinese national.
Among those arrested include Dilip Bhujel, 21, originally from Dolakha's Melung Rural Municipality-3 and currently residing in Sankhu, Kathmandu and Ram Kumar Bhujel, 53, from the same address and currently residing in Swayambhu, Kathmandu. Similarly, Harkaraj Rai, 49, originally from Bhojpur Arun Rural Municipality-4 and currently residing in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu; a customs agent Rajendra Rai, and taxi driver Ashok Lama have been arrested.
The Indian citizen Thapten Chhiring, 49, originally from Old Delhi and presently residing in Panipokhari, Kathmandu and the Chinese citizen identified as Lingchuan were also accused of their involvement in the biggest gold scam.
The other two accused are operators of cargo companies. They are Puskar Bhatta, proprietor of Trans Global Service, and Rajan Shrestha, proprietor of Alice Trans Group. The DRI team nabbed the duo when they visited the TIA customs office to collect the goods sent by their client by using the courier services.
High-level panel continues arrests
The gold smuggled from Hong Kong was sent through the courier services of Cathay Pacific. According to the sources, the Hong Kong based clearing agent mentioned the cargo goods as ‘auto parts’ while sending it to Nepal.
Thaneshwar Acharya, head of the Mint Division, informed that the weight of the brake shoes containing gold seized by the DRI is 155 kg. The DRI took the confiscated gold to the Mint Division to ascertain the exact amount.
It has been found that the gold was smuggled into Nepal by paying only US$ 480 in customs duty, based on the evaluation of brake shoes and shaving razors.
The investigation of this gold smuggling is being conducted under the direct leadership of the Director-General of the DRI, Nawa Raj Dhungana. He responded that this incident has strengthened the suspicion that gold may have been smuggled in the past too.
Earlier in mid-February 2018, there was a huge incident of gold smuggling, known as the '33 and a half kg gold smuggling case.' It was said that the gold disappeared before reaching the hands of the concerned person.
According to the report submitted by the representatives of the relevant agencies involved in the investigation of past gold smuggling cases, there are three tiers prevalent for involvement in gold smuggling in Nepal. First-tier businessmen are based in Dubai, Hong Kong, and China, who hold responsibility to pass the gold through their territories.
The first priority to sell smuggled gold is the Indian market. Local markets are sought only when it is difficult to supply it to India.
According to reports retrieved from past gold smuggling investigations, the highest number of people arrested for gold smuggling are Nepalis, followed by Indian and Chinese nationals.
Since the fiscal year 2008/09, the incidents of gold smuggling have been increasing. In recent years, gold is being smuggled in significant quantities. If we look at the sequence of events in the past, most of the incidents of gold smuggling have been made public in Kathmandu.
Until a decade and a half ago, up to 10 to 11 kg of gold was found to be smuggled. This amount has increased dramatically in recent years. According to the police headquarters, the number of people arrested for gold smuggling has increased rapidly in recent years.
The incident reported at TIA on October 5, 2012, confirms the fact that security personnel are also involved in smuggling.
Probe committee formed to investigate gold smuggling case
The Department of Customs (DoC) has formed an investigation committee after the seizure of a large amount of gold that was cleared by the customs office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
Punya Bikram Khadka, director of the department and information officer, informed Republica that the investigation committee was formed under the leadership of Man Bahadur Paudel, the director of the Department's investigation branch.
According to him, the committee will prepare a report after detailed investigation about those involved in smuggling the gold that was brought secretly, hidden in brake shoes.
Similarly, the DoC has also prepared to suspend the employees involved in customs inspection. “The department has asked for the names of those involved in the inspection of motorcycle and scooter brake shoes,” Information Officer Khadka said, “After studying the list of all the employees, the process of suspension will be carried forward to help the investigation committee based on the involvement of those employees,” he added.
