Nepal: Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has recommended prosecution of four, including Rahul Mahara, son of former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, in the case involving smuggling of nine kilograms of gold concealed in e-cigarettes (vapes) in December last year.
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Even though the
police inquired from the former Speaker in the case, he has not been
recommended for prosecution, police said.
The other three
persons recommended for prosecution include Dawa Tsering, a Belgian citizen of
Tibetan dissent, Lokendra Bahadur Paudel, driver of the alleged Chinese
smuggler Daojin Wang, who is also allegedly a key architect in another case of
60 kg gold smuggling, and Nima Gurung, for allegedly being involved in
smuggling of gold in vapes.
Six Chinese
nationals, allegedly involved in the smuggling, will be investigated once they
are arrested, according to the police.
Police submitted
its investigation report to the District Attorney Office,
“We have
recommended the prosecution of four people on charges of organised crime and
the violation of the Customs Act,” said Superintendent of Police Nabaraj
Adhikari, spokesperson for the CIB. Among those recommended for prosecution,
Rahul Mahara, Tsering and Paudel were arrested by the police while Gurung has
been on the run.
On December 25
last year, the airport customs office seized electronic cigarettes, parts of
which were stolen from the warehouse of the customs office, prompting a CIB
investigation. Police said they later found that the gold had been concealed
inside those cigarettes.
During their
investigation the police unearthed a close contact between the Mahara duo and a
Chinese national who was smuggling gold concealed inside electronic cigarettes.
Last week,
police had inquired with senior Mahara, who is also a vice-chair of ruling
party CPN (Maoist Centre), about the smuggling of gold after it was found that
he had contacts with Chinese smugglers. Like in the case of former prime
ministers Madhav Kumar
A senior police
officer said that the former Speaker was just inquired as it was not found
necessary to interrogate him in the presence of the government attorney.
As per section
16 of the National
Criminal Procedure (Code) Act, 2017, the investigating authority may
take a deposition (statement of potential offender) from the accused in
relation to any offence in the presence of the government attorney.
In taking
deposition, the government attorney shall have the right to ask questions with
relation to the offence. But no deposition was taken from the former Speaker.
“If somebody is
expected to be a defendant in an offence, deposition of such a person is taken.
Otherwise, the statement is taken as the government’s witness,” an official of
the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu previously told the Post when asked
about the omission of the former prime minister duo from prosecution in the
Lalita Niwas scam.
Ten arrested in one of biggest gold hauls out of Tribhuvan International
Airport
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.
Seven including Chinese and Indian nationals arrested in latest airport
gold smuggling case
Police
have arrested seven individuals in connection with the latest gold smuggling
case.
The Department
of Revenue Investigation on Wednesday had seized a huge quantity of gold that
had passed undetected through the
Senior
Superintendent Rajendra Khadka, the spokesperson of the Armed Police Force,
informed that a team of department officials and personnel from the APF had confiscated
a large quantity of the gold that was being taken in a taxi from the airport
area.
“The confiscated
metal will be taken to the Nepal Rastra Bank soon to determine the exact weight
which will be done under the supervision of Inland Revenue Department
officials,” Khadka told the Post on Thursday morning.
SSP Khadka
informed that the police have so far arrested Rajendra Rai, the taxi driver,
Ram Kumar Bhujel, Dilip Bhujel, Harka Raj Rai, an Indian national Thapten
Tsering and a Chinese national.
Further
investigation is underway regarding the incident, said Khadka.
Meanwhile, the
customs department is preparing to suspend the staff, involved in checking and
clearing, a large quantity of gold as a ‘break shoe’ of two-wheelers, from the
The customs
clearance was done by customs officer Ramesh Chand, and the item was inspected
by Kumar Dhakal.
According to
Punya Bikram Khadka, the spokesperson at the customs department, the process of
suspending the employees involved in the inspection and clearance of the
suspected gold has been started.
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