Nepal: The Department of Revenue Investigation has sought support from the Nepal Police to investigate the smuggling of a large quantity of gold seized last week, in what may be billed as one of the largest gold scams in the country.
The department
said it has so far arrested 16 people connected to the scam, including an
Indian and a Chinese national.
“We have sought
the support of the Nepal Police,” said DRI Director General Nawa Raj Dhungana.
“Nepal Police has already sent an officer to help us.”
Police
spokesman Deputy Inspector General Kuber Kadayat confirmed that Superintendent
of Police Krishna Pangeni will be assisting in the DRI investigations. “After
the DRI wrote to us, asking us to send an experienced police officer for
investigations, we sent Pangeni.”
On July 18, gold
weighing over a quintal, concealed inside motorcycle brake shoes, was seized by
the Central Investigation Bureau as the consignment was being whisked away in a
taxi after getting the customs clearances from the
Part of the gold
seized during the raid by the DRI was imported by Kathmandu-based firm Ready
Trade while the rest belonged to another firm.
Thereafter, the
DRI seized an additional six cartons of metal items some of which are related to
Ready Trade. The DRI has been examining whether these metal items contain any
gold.
As these metal
items belonged to firms involved in the smuggling of gold, an examination is
being conducted to determine whether the cargo items also contain gold. Likewise,
the DRI has also been recording the statements of those arrested last week with
the gold, officials at the DRI said.
With
the smuggling of such a huge quantity of gold through the
DG Dhungana said
the DRI had sought police help to investigate revenue leakages and gold
smuggling.
Some experts are
also calling for an investigation into organised crime in connection with the
gold smuggling case. Former Deputy Inspector General of Police Hemanta Malla
Thakuri earlier told the Post that smuggling of gold was a crime with an
international dimension and demands an investigation into organised crime too.
However, both
the DRI and Nepal Police clarified that immediately there is no plan for
investigating the accused for organised crime. “Whether to investigate them on
charges of organised crime is not related to us,” said Dhungana. “The DRI is an
agency to investigate gold smuggling and we are doing it within our
jurisdiction.”
He
said that separate investigations could become necessary depending on what
transpires during the ongoing investigation. Earlier too, the CIB of Nepal
Police had investigated the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and the Lalita Niwas
land scam for organised crime as well.
But, police said
no government agency has asked the police to investigate this case for
organised crime. “We have not yet been asked to investigate organised crime in
this case,” said CIB spokesman Superintendent of Police Sanjaya Singh Thapa.
According to the
police, they should not move ahead to investigate organised crime by itself as
one investigation is currently ongoing. “If this case has to be investigated
for organised crime too, the Home Ministry or DRI may tell us to do so,” said
DIG Kadayat.
Ten
arrested in one of biggest gold hauls out of
In
what police say is the biggest gold haul in recent decades at Kathmandu’s
On Tuesday, the
Department of Revenue Investigation assisted by the Armed Police Force personnel
seized gold estimated to be worth over a billion rupees and arrested six
individuals. Two days later, on Thursday, four persons including a Chinese
national were arrested. The Chinese was arrested from the airport as he was
trying to leave the country. The three others are Nepali nationals—Krishna
Kumar Shrestha, Rajan Shrestha and Pushkar Raj Bhattarai.
The gold had passed the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)
customs undetected and was seized from a taxi cab at Sinamangal, a locality
near the airport.
“We are investigating the detainees to uncover their possible links with other
individuals involved in the smuggling,” said senior superintendent of police
Rajendra Khadka, who is also the APF spokesman. He said police are keeping a
close eye on several others, based on the information extracted from the
detainees.
According to the
department, around 80 to 100 kilograms of the yellow metal stashed inside
motorcycle brake shoes and suspected to have been brought from
On Thursday, the
seized consignment was taken to the Mint Division to take the actual weight of
the gold.
“A total of
eight wax-sealed boxes arrived at our office on Thursday. The boxes weighed 155
kg. But we have yet to open the boxes and determine the exact quantity of
gold,” said Thaneshwar Acharya, director at the division.
Lawmakers
speaking during Thursday’s National Assembly meeting discussed the gold haul at
length. Many criticised the authorities for lax security at the airport,
accusing customs officials and police of openly abetting smuggling.
“This incident
reminded me of the statement by convicted criminal Charles Sobhraj, who
mockingly said that he could smuggle an elephant through the [
“Are we running
a government or a smuggling racket?
“Reports say, in
recent times, gold in large quantities was smuggled through the airport, not
once but 22 times. When we try to pass a mobile phone or a watch by putting
them in our coat pocket through the airport customs, the metal detector
immediately beeps. Why didn’t it beep when they passed 100 kg of gold?”
questioned Rayamajhi.
Meanwhile, UML
lawmaker Gopal Bhattarai, speaking during the special hour in the upper house,
demanded that the government launch an independent investigation into the gold
smuggling case. “Such incidents make us wonder if smugglers are intervening in
the governance of the nation,” said Bhattarai.
The
customs department said it has decided to suspend three of its officials and
forwarded the decision to the Ministry of Finance for further action. The
three, according to the department, had given customs clearance to the gold
consignment disguised as motorcycle brake shoes.
“This incident
has left us very much concerned. We have already sent the three officials'
names for suspension pending approval by the finance ministry,” said Punya
Bikram Khadka, director at the Department of Customs.
When asked by
the Post why the customs officials were unable to intercept such a huge
quantity of gold, Director Khadka said the gold was disguised as a different
commodity and difficult to detect. “We will scan the CCTV footage to examine
their activities and investigate if they had facilitated smuggling,” he said.
APF spokesman
Khadka told the Post on Thursday that the gold was seized from a taxi cab with
registration number plate Ba 2 Cha 2324. According to him the gold was
disguised as brake shoes and electric shaving machines.
The police have
so far arrested custom agent Rajendra Rai, the taxi driver Ram Kumar Bhujel,
Dilip Bhujel, Harka Raj Rai and an Indian national Thuptin Tsering and they
have been detained on the premises of the APF office at at Minbhawan.
Nawa Raj
Dhungana, director general at the Department of Revenue Investigation, said his
office has already instructed the customs department to take action against its
staff.
“We
have already handed over the confiscated gold to the Nepal Rastra Bank to weigh
the gold which will be done under the supervision of the Inland Revenue
Department officials,” said Adhikari.
Meanwhile, Mint
Division Director Acharya said it will take a few days to know the actual
weight of the gold. “Because of bureaucratic hassles, we can’t immediately melt
the gold. We need the Customs Department’s approval, and it has to be done in
the presence of officials from the NRB, Department of Revenue Investigation,
and other stakeholders,” said Acharya.
Officials at the
Department of Customs said a six-member investigation team headed by Man
Bahadur Paudel, director of the Department of Customs, was formed on Thursday.
Earlier in January, 2017,
the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had seized 33kg of gold
from a locality near the TIA. The gold had also passed undetected through the
customs. A team had nabbed Gopal Bahadur Shahi, who had landed at the TIA by an
Air Arabia flight, in connection with the gold.
According to
police, in the past nine years, the Nepal Police, the APF, and different
customs units and the Department of Revenue Investigation have confiscated over
665 kg of gold smuggled into
According to
officials, three customs officials including Ramesh Chand and Kumar Dhakal had
given customs clearance to the gold consignment Tuesday.
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