KATHMANDU, APRIL 29

It has come to light that gold smugglers in Kathmandu use aeroplane toilets to hide smuggled gold and later carry it outside the airport by using airplane cleaning and sanitation employees, evading basic security check by police and avoiding biometric door that examines contraband being smuggled.

Police have been able to arrest five persons, including the sanitisation workers, in connection to the well-planned smuggling racket. Police's discreet mission was able to recover nearly twoand-a-half kilogram gold. The gold biscuits were carried by the two sanitation workers, who were caught red handed ferrying the precious yellow metal inside the airport.

Upon direction from smugglers, they were ferrying the gold biscuits from aeroplane toilet to the airport parking lot, where other people were supposed to carry the gold with them. However, before the cleaning workers would traffic the gold outside the airport, police busted them inside the airport.

After being arrested, the cleaners helped police to reach other members of the smuggling racketeers.

The arrestees have been identified as Bhim Kumar Mabo, 28, of Yangwarak Rural Municipality-4 of Panchthar, Suman Tamang, 27, of Tadi Rural Municipality-5 of Nuwakot, Rajesh Rai, 28, of Limchungbung Rural Municipality-2 of Udayapur, Hem Bahadur Thapa, 41, of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality of Dolakha and Tarakant Chaud-hary, 36, of Surunga Municipality-4 of Saptari.

Of the arrested, Bhim Kumar and Suman, sanitisation workers from Sungava Suppliers and Cleaning Pvt Ltd, had carried the gold hidden inside the toilet of am aircraft belonging to Himalaya Airlines that had flown from Dubai to Kathmandu today. Police, acting upon a tip-off, busted them along with waste materials they were supposed to dump. Both of them were carrying 10 biscuits of the pure gold.

The duo later confessed that they were working as per the direction of Rajesh who was waiting at the airport parking lot. Rajesh was the major employee of Ramesh Upreti, mastermind behind this racket, who operates gold smuggling racket from Dubai.

Rajesh would then handover the gold to taxi driver Hem Bahadur, who would provide the gold to different persons as asked by Ramesh and Rajesh.

These transporters would be then provided with certain fee for undertaking the task. Police also arrested Tarakant, the supervisor of Sungava Suppliers and Cleaning Company, in connection to the crime.

The arrestees have been handed over to Tribhuvan International Airport Customs Office, Gauchar, for further investigation.

Police suspect that the smuggler had been using this technique for a quite some time in Kathmandu to smuggle gold into the country. But they are unsure, what amount of gold have already been smuggled through the country's largest airport.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times