Eighteen persons arrested in connection with the recent gold smuggling scam have been remanded to custody for an additional 15 days.
The Patan High Court on Sunday granted permission to keep the 18 arrested in custody for another 15 days.
A huge quantity of gold, estimated to be 80-100 kilograms, was smuggled hidden inside scooters’ brake shoes that were imported by Ready Trade Pvt Ltd on July 18. The gold was brought on a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong. The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) had confiscated the gold in a raid the same day after the gold had passed undetected through the customs at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
The DRI has arrested 18 persons in connection with the scam so far.
On Sunday, a DRI team arrested Dawa Tsering from Hotel Vienna in Thamel. Tsering is a Belgian national of Nepali origin. The hotel is registered in his wife's name.
Earlier, Surendra Tamang, known as Naresh, was arrested on July 26.
The DRI has also arrested Santosh Chand, Kumar Dhakal and Saroj Shrestha, all employees at the TIA Customs Office, in connection with the case. Their arrest came after the Department of Customs had suspended them citing negligence.
Others arrested in the case are customs agent Yadav Shankar Parajuli, Sudarshan Gautam, Rukmina Subba, Global Pvt Ltd promoter Pushkar Raj Bhatta, Krishna Shrestha, Rajan Shrestha, taxi driver Ashok Lama, customs agent Rajendra Rai, Ready Trade Pvt Ltd promoter Dilip Bhujel and his maternal uncle Ram Kumar Bhujel, Harka Raj Rai, Indian national Thapten Tsering and Chinese national Lin Zeqiang.
The DRI is investigating them as per the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act.
