60 kg gold smuggling case: Investigation committee formed under AIG Bajracharya

KATHMANDU, Aug 29: A committee has been formed under the leadership of the Additional Inspector General of Police Kiran Bajracharya to investigate the case of 60 kg 716 grams of gold smuggled from Hong Kong. The Inspector General of Police Basanta Kunwar formed the committee under the leadership of Bajracharya, who is also the Director of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB).

The CIB formed a team under the command of the Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjay Singh Thapa on the 7th of August and started the investigation. A high-level committee has been formed to monitor and facilitate the investigation team, a senior officer of the police headquarters told Ratopati.

Special Bureau DIG Ram Dutta Joshi and SP Krishna Koirala are members of the committee. SP Koirala, who was working in Dhankuta, has been called to investigate as an expert in organized crime investigation.

The Department of Revenue Investigation had handed over the responsibility of the investigation to the CIB on the 6th of August, alleging that the gold recovered from outside the Tribhuvan International Airport Customs gate, was smuggled in an organized manner. An officer involved in the investigation told Ratopati that 10 places had been raided after the CIB started the investigation.

On July 19, the Department of Revenue Investigation recovered the gold brought to Kathmandu by 'Ready Trade Pvt. Ltd' by hiding inside the brake pads of motorcycles and scooters.