Pokhara / Kathmandu, July 25

Police confiscated ‘16 kg gold’ from Khorlabesi bazaar in Dharche Rural Municipality in Gorkha today, following the arrest of Dhana Kamal Gurung of Dharche Rural Municipality, Gorkha, yesterday.

A police team assigned from Machhakhola Police Post found the gold today, acting on Gurung’s statement.

A trader by profession, Gurung used to supply daily essentials to remote villages of Uhiya, Sirdibas, Chumchet and Bihi from Machhakhola bazaar, Arughat and Arakhet areas. But he went missing on June 26.

“He went to Tibet for a few day on a business trip, but largely stayed in the district until June 26. We heard that local youths tried to attack him that night. He had been out of contact since then,” said a local.

His family then sought the help of police to find him.

Police found him and learnt that he had hidden gold smuggled from Tibet in Gorkha. He was then arrested.

Gurung’s interrogation revealed that he called his kin claiming he had been kidnapped. He then switched off his cell phone and disappeared after hiding gold in a den 66 km from district headquarters, as a rival group came to know what he was carrying.

“We’ve recovered 16 one-kg biscuits that look like gold. We have to verify whether the seized metal is gold,” said Gorkha Superintendent of Police Om Prasad Adhikari.

Gurung was brought to Gorkha headquarters, along with the seized metal, this evening.

Police have yet to ascertain whether Gurung is a gold smuggler or a carrier.

Last year also police had seized 10 kg gold that was smuggled to Gorkha from Ruila entry point.

Nepal Police arrested 107 persons with more than 84 kilograms of gold in 11 months of fiscal 2018-19.

Most of the smuggled gold enters Nepal from Gulf countries through TIA and Tatopani and Rasuwagadi-Kerung points via Tibet.

Ironically, only yesterday Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa, while speaking at a press meet organised to make public the one-year report card of his ministry, had claimed that the government had neutralised gold smuggling rackets.