INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, June 23
Nepal Police today claimed that it had stepped up action against gold smugglers to bring them to book.
According to
statistics released by Nepal Police, it arrested as many as 107 persons with more than 84 kilograms of gold in 11 months of the current
fiscal.
Metropolitan Police Office topped the gold seizure chart with 36 kilograms, followed by Sudurpashim Province police (25 kilograms),
Province 3 police (11 kilograms), Gandaki Province police (10 kilograms) and Karnali Province police (1 kilogram)
The value of the seized gold comes to around Rs 235 million.
Nepal Police had arrested 90 alleged gold smugglers in the last fiscal
It said that the number of smugglers arrested increased to 107 in just 11 months of the current fiscal from 90 in the last fiscal as the
security agency adopted zero-tolerance policy against crimes and criminals.
Deputy Inspector General Bishwa Raj Pokharel said, &We have
intensified action against persons involved in gold smuggling and illegal trade, transaction and sale of the precious yellow metal
Therefore, more smugglers have been brought to book during the current fiscal compared to the last fiscal
We have accorded a high priority to the arrest and seizure, at the same time.
Nepal Police said that it had not been able to completely
control gold smuggling for want of hi-tech screening devices and detectors along the Indo-Nepal open border and Tribhuvan International
Airport.
DIG Pokharel said that the security agency was serious about responding to the changing modus operandi of gold smugglers
Security and customs officials are on high alert to respond to newer modes of smuggling adopted by gold smugglers, according to
Pokharel.
Concealing gold in the rectum, battery box, laptop, baggage, air-filter of vehicle, oral cavity, cargo trucks and inner sole of
shoes are some of the ways adopted by smugglers
Smugglers also mould gold into jewellery and wear them to outsmart security officials
Some migrant workers returning Nepal are being used as gold carriers, who are promised a ‘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.
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stepped up action against gold smugglers appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
