Former speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara has been arrested.
The police arrested Mahara Sunday for investigation into the gold smuggling case involving vapes (electronic cigarettes). The police have also leveled charges of organized crime against Mahara.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police issued a statement on Sunday mentioning that former Speaker Mahara has been arrested.
The CIB had been investigating the gold smuggling case in which Mahara is alleged to be involved.
Previously, Mahara was also taken into custody by the police for investigation in March 2024. He is accused of involvement in the smuggling of 9 kg of gold, which was hidden inside electronic cigarettes (vapes).
He is accused of repeatedly pressuring customs officials at Tribhuvan International Airport to release the gold consignment.
in December 2022.
In its investigation report on the 9 kg gold smuggling case submitted to the District Government Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu, the CIB had included a link chart which also showed that Mahara was in contact with Daojin Wang, the alleged mastermind behind the gold smuggling.
The customs office at the Tribhuvan International Airport had confiscated 730 e-cigarettes from a Chinese national named Li Hansong who arrived on a Fly Dubai flight on December 25, 2022.
When Li claimed that the e-cigarettes were brought for business purpose, Chief Customs Officer Mukti Prasad Shrestha had ordered confiscation of the e-cigarettes giving one to the Chinese national for the latter’s use pointing that goods brought for commercial purpose cannot be cleared from the passengers’ section.
The Chinese national, who was allowed to leave after confiscation of the e-cigarettes, left Nepal after staying here for a few days.
The Mahara father-son duo then contacted the chief customs officer and put pressure on him to release the e-cigarettes.
The authorities found out that the e-cigarettes were actually gold only after investigations when a staffer at the customs office realized that the e-cigarettes had been changed from the store.
A non-gazetted first-class official of TIA Customs Office Rewant Khadka and customs agent Dinesh Basnet had collaborated to change the e-cigarettes, extracted around nine kilograms of gold from the e-cigarettes and sold it for Rs 60 million by then.
