Kathmandu, February 28

The Ministry of Home Affairs said total 114 kilograms of undeclared gold were seized from different parts of the country, including Tribhuvan International Airport, in the past one year.

According to statistics released by the MoHA, police arrested as many as 128 persons in connection with smuggling of the contraband. Most of the smuggled gold enters Nepal from Gulf countries through TIA, and Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi-Kerung points via Tibet of China. Despite efforts by law enforcement authorities, gold is still being smuggled into India via Nepal to evade customs. The government imposes a customs duty of Rs 5,200 per 10 grams of gold while selling it to authorised jewellers and dealers through the official channel of commercial banks.

The ministry claimed that cases of gold smuggling had gone down after the special probe panel formed to investigate the March 2 murder of Sanam Shakya and disappearance of 33 kilograms of smuggled gold, filed charge-sheet against 75 persons. Of them, 46 were arrested, while 31 are still at large. Similarly, 34 of the arrestees are in jail.

A one-year progress report published by the ministry stated that moveable and immovable assets of 36 defendants were put on hold.

After a brief lull, gold smugglers have again started cashing in on the poor security system of TIA to supply precious yellow metal to Nepal concealing gold in the rectum, battery box, laptop, baggage, cargo trucks and inner sole of shoes. Smugglers also mould gold into jewellery and wear them to outsmart security officials.

Some migrant workers returning to Nepal are being used as gold carriers, who are promised ‘good’ wage. The migrant workers are paid by racketeers from the Gulf via wire after the consignment of gold is received by concerned persons in Nepal. As racketeers make a profit of around Rs 7,000 per tola gold, they have been luring gullible migrant workers into carrying the precious metal in small consignments, officials said.

An oversea returnee is allowed to carry gold not exceeding 50 grams in the form of ornament and racketeers have been misusing this provision to smuggle gold by causing the migrant workers to carry the permissible consignment of gold.

Meanwhile,police yesterday arrested a person with 150 grams of illegal gold from the parking area of Tribhuvan International Airport. According to officials, Deepak Bahadur Khatri of Pyuthan district was caught in the act of collecting the gold from migrant workers who returned from Gulf countries. The gold was in the form of three bangles weighing 50 grams each. Police said they had launched further investigation into the case.