Kathmandu, January 12

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested two customs officials deputed at Tribhuvan International Airport for their alleged involvement in allowing entry of 33 kg of undeclared gold into the country last week.

CIB arrested Shree Narayan Yadhav and Raj Dhakal of TIA customs office today after preliminary investigation showed they were hand-in-glove with smugglers in clearing the undeclared yellow metal. While Yadhav is the statistician officer at TIA customs office, Dhakal works as X-ray officer.

“Our preliminary investigation shows they had a hand in allowing the yellow metal to pass the security checks at TIA,” CIB Director Nawa Raj Silwal said, adding that the bureau is conducting further investigations to bring the case to closure.

Following last week’s case when gold was smuggled through the country’s sole international airport by hoodwinking TIA officials, CIB had started probing the case independently and also in coordination with the Department of Customs.

CIB had arrested three persons with 33 kg of undeclared gold from Pingalasthan.

The involvement of customs officials in giving clearance to undeclared gold came to light after Gopal Bahadur Shahi revealed that customs officials had supported him in bringing almost 200 kg gold without screening in the past one year.

Shahi is one of the three who were arrested by CIB last week with undeclared gold brought from Dubai.

A day after the incident, DoC had also recalled 29 of its officials from airport duty and had formed a probe panel under the coordination of Deputy Director of DoC, Suman Dahal.

Silwal said CIB would get to the root of the gold smuggling racket and would take necessary action against all involved in the case. A few days ago, Inspector General of Police Upendra Kanta Aryal had openly said there existed a strong nexus between gold smugglers and customs officials.

Moreover, the Central Monitoring and Evaluation Committee chaired by Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi on Wednesday had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct an in-depth investigation into the involvement of customs and other government officials in the gold smuggling racket.

Meanwhile, DoC officials said the department was probing the case in close coordination with CIB. “We have been cross-checking lapses from our side at airport customs office so that such incidents don’t recur in the future,” Kul Raj Gyawali, spokesperson for DoC, said.