Customs agent Rukmina Subba, who was arrested in connection with the recent gold smuggling case, has been released on guarantee.
A source at the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) told Setopati that Subba was released on Thursday.
Subba was released as she suffers from throat cancer and needs to undergo treatment. According to the source, Subba was released with her father and husband as guarantors.
The DRI has arrested 18 people in connection with the case till date, with Subba the first to be released.
The DRI had arrested Suresh Tamang, known as Naresh, on July 26 and Belgian national Dawa Tsering on July 30.
Three staffers of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Customs Office – Santosh Chand, Kumar Dhakal, and Saroj Shrestha – have also been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the scam. The Department of Customs had already suspended them citing negligence before the DRI arrested them.
Customs agents Yadav Shankar Parajuli and Sudarshan Gautam, 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 have also been arrested in the case.
The DRI is investigating them under the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act.
A DRI team had confiscated a huge quantity of gold during a cargo inspection on July 18 after it had passed undetected through the airport customs.
The gold, whose total weight is estimated to be nearly 100 kilograms, was brought hidden inside brake shoes for scooters on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hong Kong. The brake shoes were imported by Ready Trade Pvt Ltd.
The seized goods have been sent to the Mint Division of Nepal Rastra Bank to determine the actual weight of the gold. But the gold has yet to be weighed.
