Kathmandu, July 7

Police said they were serious about responding to the changing modus operandi of gold smugglers.

A senior police official at Tribhuvan International Airport said the new mode of operating adopted by gold smugglers every time had kept the security and customs officials on their toes.

TIA police arrested two Indian nationals for trying to smuggle 1.8 kg gold concealed in their rectum on Thursday. The duo had arrived in Kathmandu from Dubai on a Flydubai flight.

Superintendent of Police Dineshraj Mainali, TIA police spokesperson, said they were held for investigation after being spotted behaving suspiciously and walking in a peculiar way during a security scanning at arrival gate.

“The Indians were quizzed and they admitted to concealing gold in their rectum. Police in association with doctors removed the contraband from the rectal cavity,” he informed. Jalaludheen Vyapinpadath Kunju Mohammad and Arshad Cholayil of Indian state of Kerala had concealed eight pieces of gold weighing 1.8 kg in their rectum. The gold is worth around Rs 9,236,884 in Nepal.

TIA has reported two such cases of gold smuggling earlier. Concealing gold in the rectum, battery box, laptop, baggage, air-filter of vehicle, cargo trucks and inner sole of shoes are some of ways adopted by smugglers. Smugglers also mould gold into jewellery and wear them to outsmart security officials.

Earlier this week, police arrested two Indians with 3 kg gold concealed in the air-filter of a car in Nagdhunga. In March, the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police arrested six persons, who were found smuggling gold to Kathmandu by concealing the precious metal in the cavity of electric hair straightening irons. Police found 15 tola gold in the cavity of hair straightening irons.

Similarly, racketeers have been using returnee Nepali migrant workers to smuggle gold. Migrant workers are paid by the racketeers from the Gulf via wire after the consignment of gold is received by the concerned person in Nepal, police said. As racketeers make a profit of around Rs 7,000 per tola gold when they succeed in smuggling it to Nepal,  they have been luring gullible migrant workers into carrying the precious metal in small consignments, read an investigation report.

According to a figure of the TIA, customs officials and police seize an average of two kilos of undeclared gold being smuggled into Nepal from the Gulf countries every month. An overseas returnee is not allowed to carry gold exceeding 50 grams in the form of ornament and the concerned persons should produce its invoice.