Kathmandu, July 20: Almost one quintal (100 kilograms) of gold, released by the Tribhuvan International Airport Customs Office, was confiscated in Sinamangal in Kathmandu.
Director General of the Department of Revenue Investigations, Nawa Raj Dhungana, said that about 80 to 100 kilograms of gold were recovered during an operation conducted on the basis of special information by the Department of Revenue Investigation on Wednesday.
‘This may be the gold of the greatest value recovered in Nepal so far,’ he told to a mass media. The gold, which was hidden inside the brake shoes of motorcycles and scooters, passed the customs check on Wednesday and the information about it reached the Revenue Investigation Department at 2 pm. Following that, a raid was conducted by the department which confiscated gold worth Rs 1 billion.
According to sources the gold was brought into Nepal by Ready Trade Private Limited and its owner Dilip Bhujel and two others were arrested. In the preliminary investigation, it has been revealed that Ready Trade has imported brake shoes several times before. Sources said the company had imported brake shoes 22 times in the past two months. This has raised suspicions among investigators who are looking if the company was smuggling gold in the same manner before.
The Department of Customs and the Airport Customs Office has shown a lack of awareness regarding the gold that successfully passed the customs check. Shobhakanta Paudel, the Director General of the Department of Customs, stated that he had no information about the gold that was seized.
Arun Pokharel, Chief Customs Administrator of the Airport Customs Office, is currently on leave. In his absence, Narad Gautam has taken over the responsibility of customs.
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