KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 4

One more Chinese national has been nabbed in relation to the 11-kg gold smuggling case from Dolakha.

Police arrested a 66-yearold Agar Lama alias Tasi Dawa, a Chinese citizen living at Kimdol in Ward No 15 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. He was arrested from Swoyambhu for further investigation.

He has been found to have played a key role in importing gold from China to Nepal, according to police. So far, 11 people have already been arrested in this case.

Yesterday, the CIB had taken three people, including a Chinese citizen, into custody from Kathmandu. Prior to that, police had arrested seven people from Dolakha.

Among the arrested are Chinese national Gengru and his associate named Sanat Pradhan, along with Lal Bahadur Tamang who was involved in buying and selling of gold. They were all apprehended from Swayambhu, according to CIB.

Later, the CIB handed them over to District Police Office, Dolakha. As per the investigation, Gengru was involved in purchasing gold from China.

Similarly, on September 27, Pemba Tamang, 19, Madhav Magar, 20, Keshar Tamang, 28, Nurwu Chhiring Sherpa, 55, Sunmala Tamang, 30, Chasman (Chhiring) Tamang, 32, and a minor were arrested from Bigu Rural Municipality-1 of Dolakha.

Likewise, on September 29, police recovered three kilograms of gold. During investigation, four more kilograms of gold were seized from Dolakha on Sunday.

The smuggling operation involved concealing gold inside potato sacks and transporting it through Dolakha checkpoint.

The attention of the police was drawn to this activity after a bag of potatoes containing gold was robbed.

Eventually, people involved in the gold smuggling operation were taken into custody.

Although the District Police Office, Dolakha is leading the investigation, the CIB is closely looking into the case due to its suspected nature of organised crime.

The smuggled gold is believed to have been distributed and sold in various areas of Kathmandu, including Bauddha, Thamel, among other places, according to police.

Police had seized the smuggled gold from Jamune and Lamabagar of Bigu Rural Municipality on three different occasions on September 27, 29 and 30 respectively.

The gold was smuggled to Nepal through China's Rongjia border crossing.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times