• GOLD SMUGGLING RACKET
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 13
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police which investigated the 61 kilograms gold smuggling case for two months submitted its report to the District Government Attorney's Office, Kathmandu, recommending prosecution of 29 accused, most of whom are currently in judicial custody.
The CIB has so far arrested 32 people in connection with the scam. The CIB, however, did not recommend prosecution of six individuals, saying their involvement in the scam could not be proved. Police have also identified 18 people connected with the scam who are absconding.
However, many of the absconders are not named as defendants as police were not able to find their complete names and whereabouts. Of the 32 arrestees, nine are foreigners and out of 14 absconders, four are foreigners.
"We were unable to identify the full names and whereabouts of the absconders and thus we decided not to name them as defendants due to legal issues," AIG Kiran Bajracharya, who heads CIB told THT.
Of those arrested, the CIB recommended that taxi driver Ashok Lama, cargo agent Rajan Shrestha, customs agent Rukmina Subba, Surendra Tamang who helped the scammer find apartments and two employees at the customs office of Tribhuvan International Airport Sridhar Tandan and Kamal Pariyar not be prosecuted.
The CIB has also recommended demanding a principal amount of Rs 3.50 billion from the defendants. The CIB fixed the amount, after its investigation proved that the racketeers, spearheaded mostly by Chinese kingpins, had smuggled additional 302 kilograms of gold in the same manner as the 61 kilograms gold was smuggled into country. The amount was fixed as per the market price of the gold that was smuggled into the country. The CIB concluded that Chinese racketeers in coordination with Nepali people used to smuggle gold concealed inside brake shoes of motorbikes. For that, they had formed seven companies that would smuggle gold from China and then refine it in two workshops in Kathmandu.
The owners and companies that smuggled the gold are Lekhnath Karki of Chhungak Electric Suppliers, Ram Kumar Bhujel of Bhujel Electric Suppliers, Kumar Bahadur Bhujel of Hwada Electric Suppliers, Ram Bahadur Bhujel of Pawati Electrica Suppliers, Bikundra Bhujel of Dolakha Electric Suppliers, Dilip Bhujel of Reddy Trade and Sarita Tamang of Sarita Suppliers. All the gold smuggled through these companies would be taken to Lazimpat and Tokha based workshops for extraction.
AIG Kiran Bajracharya head of CIB said the amount of gold smuggled was based on the brake shoes they recovered from such workshops.
She added that they had identified other modus operandi that was used to smuggle gold into the country by the same racketeers.
She said their investigation would continue. According to AIG Bajracharya smugglers had organised a 'perfect crime scenario' the likes of which are created by drug cartels in developed countries.
"They created multiple layers to the racketeers. In such cases, detectives face challenges in reaching the source or the destination of such smuggled goods," Bajracharya said.
The CIB has suggested that the accused be prosecuted for offences under several sections of seven Acts including Section 57 (1) (d) of 1 (b) of Customs Act 2007, Prevention of Organised Crime Act 2013; Section 95 of Nepal Rastra Bank Act 2002, Section 43 of the National Penal (Code) Act, 2017; Nepal Citizenship Act 2006, Passport Act 2019 and Immigration Act 1992.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
