12 held for black marketing petrol Over 2,100 litres of petrol confiscated

Kathmandu, October 28

Police carried out coordinated raids on three places in the capital and arrested 12 persons on the charge of hoarding and black marketing petroleum products.

A special team of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division conducted a search in the house of Kapil Budhathoki in Kalanki early in the morning and confiscated 1,900 litres of petrol hoarded for black marketing.

Those arrested from the house are are Budhathoki, 39, Hari Prasad Timilsina, 38, Tanka Timilsina, 47, Ghanashyam Risal, 35, Tok Bahadur Pakhrin, 26, and Ratna Bahadur Shrestha, 55, of Parsa and Gnaga Kumar Shrestha, 29, of Sindhupalchowk.

Police seized 1,710 litres of petrol from the house while jerry cans with 190 litres of petrol was found loaded in a taxi (Ba 1 Ja 6968). According to police, they brought fuel to Kathmandu from Birgunj of Parsa and sold them at high prices. They were caught selling petrol for more than Rs 500 per litres against the market price of Rs 104.

In a separate raid, police held four persons, including two women, with 100 litres of petrol from Swoyambhu. They were found selling petrol at exorbitant rates. Similarly, Asmita Lamichhane, 24, of Janakpur was arrested from her rented room at Kalanki while selling petrol for Rs 400 per litre.

Police have arrested more than 50 black marketeers of petroleum products from the Kathmandu Valley in the past four weeks. A section of people has been taking advantage of the fuel crisis in the capital due to supply disruptions by the agitating Madhesi parties at border checkpoints, said police.

Meanwhile, police have intensified security scanning on the highways to prevent transport of petroleum products by passenger vehicles.