By Our Reporter
Tribhuvan International Airport has truly turned into a hub for gold smugglers. It was evident from the seizure of over 20 kg of smuggled gold in four days.
A team of the Customs Office and TIA Security Office Saturday night apprehended an Egyptian national Mohamad Mogamad Lasim along with 6.590 kilogrammes of gold smuggled to Nepal from Dubai on Saturday night.
Earlier on Thursday last week, over 14 kg of gold was seized from Chandra Ghale of Barpak, Gorkha.
These two incidents show how the smugglers are using the TIA to smuggle gold thanks to the corrupt politicians and employees.
Even though gold is reportedly smuggled into Nepal daily, most of the cases go unnoticed due to strong political intervention. Even when gold is seized, it is the gold peddlers who are sent to jail while the main players remain off the hook. Ghale also said that he was just a porter.
Over two quintals of illegally imported gold were seized in one year and 30 kgs of gold within a month. Imagine, the gold is smuggled every day, and the seizure in two days mounts to over 20 kg, an average 70 kg of gold gets smuggled a week.
Earlier in July, 100 kg of gold smuggled to Nepal from Hong Kong was seized from Sinamangal after the gold passed through customs.
The government though has been claiming that it has tightened security, and the smuggling is going unabated because of protection to the smugglers by powerful politicians.
Moreover, the political parties seemed divided over measures to control the gold smuggling. It was evident from the fact that the CPN-UML even obstructed the House meeting in August demanding the formation of a commission to investigate the gold smuggling instead of allowing the police to continue the investigation. But committees formed under politicians have never been fruitful. They only give protection to the criminals. This is the reason why the smuggling continues making the TIA a haven for the smugglers.
Surprisingly, the gold smuggled to Nepal via the TIA is not consumed in Nepal. If we look at the local gold market and compare the gold trade within the country and the smuggled amount, we conclude that the gold reached elsewhere, mostly India from Nepal. Thus, there is a nexus between Nepali officials politicians and Indian businessmen in the thriving business of gold smuggling. Police have been still clueless about the whereabouts of 33 kg of gold smuggled by Gore a few years ago.
Moreover, the major political parties in Nepal have been managing the expenses by permitting the smuggling of gold to Nepal, it has been an open secret since the time of the late Girija Prasad Koirala.
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