Mahara’s son Rahul, Head of gold smuggling

Nepal: Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has recommended prosecution of four, including Rahul Mahara, son of former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, in the case involving smuggling of nine kilograms of gold concealed in e-cigarettes (vapes) in December last year.

Even though the police inquired from the former Speaker in the case, he has not been recommended for prosecution, police said.

The other three persons recommended for prosecution include Dawa Tsering, a Belgian citizen of Tibetan dissent, Lokendra Bahadur Paudel, driver of the alleged Chinese smuggler Daojin Wang, who is also allegedly a key architect in another case of 60 kg gold smuggling, and Nima Gurung, for allegedly being involved in smuggling of gold in vapes.

Six Chinese nationals, allegedly involved in the smuggling, will be investigated once they are arrested, according to the police.

Police submitted its investigation report to the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu on Friday.

“We have recommended the prosecution of four people on charges of organised crime and the violation of the Customs Act,” said Superintendent of Police Nabaraj Adhikari, spokesperson for the CIB. Among those recommended for prosecution, Rahul Mahara, Tsering and Paudel were arrested by the police while Gurung has been on the run.

On December 25 last year, the airport customs office seized electronic cigarettes, parts of which were stolen from the warehouse of the customs office, prompting a CIB investigation. Police said they later found that the gold had been concealed inside those cigarettes.

During their investigation the police unearthed a close contact between the Mahara duo and a Chinese national who was smuggling gold concealed inside electronic cigarettes.

Last week, police had inquired with senior Mahara, who is also a vice-chair of ruling party CPN (Maoist Centre), about the smuggling of gold after it was found that he had contacts with Chinese smugglers. Like in the case of former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai in connection with the Lalita Niwas land grab scam, senior Mahara was not interrogated in the presence of the government attorney.

A senior police officer said that the former Speaker was just inquired as it was not found necessary to interrogate him in the presence of the government attorney.

As per section 16 of the National Criminal Procedure (Code) Act, 2017, the investigating authority may take a deposition (statement of potential offender) from the accused in relation to any offence in the presence of the government attorney.

In taking deposition, the government attorney shall have the right to ask questions with relation to the offence. But no deposition was taken from the former Speaker.

“If somebody is expected to be a defendant in an offence, deposition of such a person is taken. Otherwise, the statement is taken as the government’s witness,” an official of the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu previously told the Post when asked about the omission of the former prime minister duo from prosecution in the Lalita Niwas scam.

Police on Wednesday arrested Rahul Mahara, son of senior Maoist leader and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Krishna Bahadur Mahara, in connection with gold smuggling.

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) chief Kiran Bajaracharya confirmed the arrest, adding that they were recording his statement.

“Rahul has been taken into custody. We are now recording his statement,” Additional Inspector General Bajaracharya told the Post.

On December 25 last year, the airport customs office seized electronic cigarettes. Parts of those cigarettes were stolen from the warehouse of the customs office, prompting the CIB investigation. According to police, they later found that the gold was concealed inside the electric cigarettes.

During the investigation, police had found that the Mahara duo were in regular contact with a Chinese national who was allegedly smuggling gold concealed inside electric cigarettes in several lots. The Maharas have been refuting the allegations.

The government authorities however were widely criticised for not investigating the former Speaker and his son for their alleged involvement in the case.

The Vice Chairman of the ruling CPN (Maoist Center), Krishna Bahadur Mahara and his son Rahul Mahara have been linked to a gold smuggling case involving collusion with staff at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) customs office.

The Mahara father-son duo were allegedly involved in stealing gold concealed inside e-cigarettes at the TIA. A report submitted by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police to the government attorney’s office claims that senior Mahara and his son contacted the customs department staff multiple times, pressuring them to auction the e-cigarettes. The CIB report contains the call details of the Mahara father-son duo, the gold importer Chinese nationals, and other contacts related to the case.

According to CIB sources, former Speaker Mahara and his son Rahul Mahara appear to be connected to the gold smuggling group. The investigation revealed that Mahara's father and son had communicated with customs officials, claiming the goods belonged to their business partner and should be put up for auction. The police discovered this connection through call details (CDR), and their mobile numbers were included in the police report submitted to the public prosecutor's office in Kathmandu.

Mahara's son, Rahul, has admitted to having a phone conversation with the customs office initially, but he stated that he was unaware of the content of the goods or his acquaintance's business. He clarified that they were only informed about the goods much later, and there was no pressure to release them at the time of the conversation.

Former Speaker Mahara had previously faced controversy over his alleged demand of Rs 500 million from Chinese businessmen. An audio tape was released on September 6, 2010, where he was heard making the demand from an unidentified Chinese businessman. Now, he is under scrutiny again for his involvement in the release of gold brought by Chinese gold smugglers.

According to sources, Chinese nationals Lui, Wang Daojing, along with Lokendra Paudel, Khuwa Prasad Neupane, Rahul Mahara, and others, were identified as contacts involved in a group that smuggled gold concealed inside e-cigarettes through the TIA customs. The CIB source revealed that Rahul Mahara had shown interest in this activity on multiple occasions. On December 25, 2022, a Chinese passenger named Li Hansong arrived in Nepal from a Fly Dubai flight, number FZ-0587, carrying a substantial amount of gold hidden inside e-cigarettes (vape) in his luggage. Customs authorities confiscated the e-cigarettes at that time but released the passengers. After the passengers departed, Chinese nationals used intermediaries to establish contact with Mahara who has already become the country’s Deputy Prime Minister overseeing crucial ministries like Information and Communication, Home Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, and his son. The source revealed that other Chinese citizens were also involved, maintaining contact with the Mahara father-son duo.

During the subsequent events, a non-gazetted first-class official of TIA Customs, Rewant Khadka, Customs Agent Dinesh Basnet, and a guard collaborated to extract the gold from the e-cigarettes and sold it for approximately Rs 60 million, which was valued at around Rs 90 million. The police estimated that the Chinese citizen who had brought the gold from Dubai on December 25 might have entered Nepal on seven different occasions, potentially being involved in multiple smuggling attempts. The police report indicated that Dinesh Basnet, the mastermind behind the gold sale, was a customs agent. Alongside Khadka from the customs office at the airport, Basnet stole and sold nine kilos of gold. However, before the gold disappeared, they attempted to arrange an auction through the Mahara father and son duo.

On February 12, 2023, the customs department forwarded an item for investigation to the CIB after raising suspicions. The item in question was found to contain 730 electric cigarettes, organized in 73 packs and placed inside two suitcases. As the non-combusted cigarettes were deemed illegal, the customs office seized them and kept the box in their warehouse. It is customary to collect confiscated goods and send them for auction within a few months, so the said goods remained in the warehouse for approximately 50 days. The Customs Office at TIA requested the CIB to investigate the matter when the Mahara father and son duo showed unnecessary interest in the goods slated for auction.

"After facing repeated pressure from the political level to proceed with the auction, the customs staff suspected that other goods might be concealed within the box. This led to the decision to hand it over to the police," stated a customs source. The police's investigation report revealed that Rewant Khadka, Dinesh Basnet, Nirmal BK, Dipesh Basnet, and Gopal Subedi were in contact with a gold buyer named Ved Prakash Agarwal. The report also mentioned other members of the gold buying group, including Ganesh Badu, Saheb Rao Margela, Sachin Pawar, and Nandu Kumar.

The main individuals involved in the disappearance of the gold from the airport were identified as non-gazetted first-class official Khadka, who had the responsibility for the godown under the legal section of the Tribhuvan Airport Office, Gauchar, Dinesh Basnet (32) from Sunkoshi-6, Sindhupalchok, and Ved Prakash Agarwal (54) from India, residing in Bhotebahal, Kathmandu. Additional suspects included Saheb Rao (39), currently residing in Kathmandu, Amrit Karki (32) from Sunkoshi-6, Sindhupalchok, residing at Shantinagar, Kathmandu, Nirmal Kumar BK (22), residing in Pokhara with a permanent address at Kathekhola-3, Baglung, Dipesh Basnet (29) from Sunkoshi-6, Sindhupalchok, currently residing at Kageshwari Manhara, and Gopal Subedi (42), with a permanent address at the same location and currently living in Pepsicola. The police have arrested these individuals, but Ram Keshav Thapa from Kavre, Banepa, remains at large. Criminal charges for treachery and organized crime-related offenses have been filed against all involved parties.

 

Ten arrested in one of biggest gold hauls out of Tribhuvan International Airport

In what police say is the biggest gold haul in recent decades at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, ten persons have been arrested on the charge of smuggling in the yellow metal weighing around 100 kg. The gross weight of the consignment, which includes motorcycle brake shoes, is 155 kg, according to officials at the Mint division of the Nepal Rastra Bank, on whose custody the consignment has been entrusted.

On Tuesday, the Department of Revenue Investigation assisted by the Armed Police Force personnel seized gold estimated to be worth over a billion rupees and arrested six individuals. Two days later, on Thursday, four persons including a Chinese national were arrested. The Chinese was arrested from the airport as he was trying to leave the country. The three others are Nepali nationals—Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Rajan Shrestha and Pushkar Raj Bhattarai.

 “We are investigating the detainees to uncover their possible links with other individuals involved in the smuggling,” said senior superintendent of police Rajendra Khadka, who is also the APF spokesman. He said police are keeping a close eye on several others, based on the information extracted from the detainees.

According to the department, around 80 to 100 kilograms of the yellow metal stashed inside motorcycle brake shoes and suspected to have been brought from Hong Kong, was confiscated during a raid based on a tip-off on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the seized consignment was taken to the Mint Division to take the actual weight of the gold.

“A total of eight wax-sealed boxes arrived at our office on Thursday. The boxes weighed 155 kg. But we have yet to open the boxes and determine the exact quantity of gold,” said Thaneshwar Acharya, director at the division.

Lawmakers speaking during Thursday’s National Assembly meeting discussed the gold haul at length. Many criticised the authorities for lax security at the airport, accusing customs officials and police of openly abetting smuggling.

“This incident reminded me of the statement by convicted criminal Charles Sobhraj, who mockingly said that he could smuggle an elephant through the [Kathmandu] airport,” said Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi, the Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader in the assembly.

“Are we running a government or a smuggling racket?

“Reports say, in recent times, gold in large quantities was smuggled through the airport, not once but 22 times. When we try to pass a mobile phone or a watch by putting them in our coat pocket through the airport customs, the metal detector immediately beeps. Why didn’t it beep when they passed 100 kg of gold?” questioned Rayamajhi.

Meanwhile, UML lawmaker Gopal Bhattarai, speaking during the special hour in the upper house, demanded that the government launch an independent investigation into the gold smuggling case. “Such incidents make us wonder if smugglers are intervening in the governance of the nation,” said Bhattarai.

The customs department said it has decided to suspend three of its officials and forwarded the decision to the Ministry of Finance for further action. The three, according to the department, had given customs clearance to the gold consignment disguised as motorcycle brake shoes.

“This incident has left us very much concerned. We have already sent the three officials' names for suspension pending approval by the finance ministry,” said Punya Bikram Khadka, director at the Department of Customs.

When asked by the Post why the customs officials were unable to intercept such a huge quantity of gold, Director Khadka said the gold was disguised as a different commodity and difficult to detect. “We will scan the CCTV footage to examine their activities and investigate if they had facilitated smuggling,” he said.

APF spokesman Khadka told the Post on Thursday that the gold was seized from a taxi cab with registration number plate Ba 2 Cha 2324. According to him the gold was disguised as brake shoes and electric shaving machines.

The police have so far arrested custom agent Rajendra Rai, the taxi driver Ram Kumar Bhujel, Dilip Bhujel, Harka Raj Rai and an Indian national Thuptin Tsering and they have been detained on the premises of the APF office at at Minbhawan.

Nawa Raj Dhungana, director general at the Department of Revenue Investigation, said his office has already instructed the customs department to take action against its staff.

“We have already handed over the confiscated gold to the Nepal Rastra Bank to weigh the gold which will be done under the supervision of the Inland Revenue Department officials,” said Adhikari.

Meanwhile, Mint Division Director Acharya said it will take a few days to know the actual weight of the gold. “Because of bureaucratic hassles, we can’t immediately melt the gold. We need the Customs Department’s approval, and it has to be done in the presence of officials from the NRB, Department of Revenue Investigation, and other stakeholders,” said Acharya.

Officials at the Department of Customs said a six-member investigation team headed by Man Bahadur Paudel, director of the Department of Customs, was formed on Thursday.

Earlier in January, 2017, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had seized 33kg of gold from a locality near the TIA. The gold had also passed undetected through the customs. A team had nabbed Gopal Bahadur Shahi, who had landed at the TIA by an Air Arabia flight, in connection with the gold.

According to police, in the past nine years, the Nepal Police, the APF, and different customs units and the Department of Revenue Investigation have confiscated over 665 kg of gold smuggled into Nepal through Hong Kong, Dubai (UAE), China, and other countries. Police arrested 706 people in connection with the smuggling cases, according to a report published in Kantipur daily, the Post’s sister paper.

According to officials, three customs officials including Ramesh Chand and Kumar Dhakal had given customs clearance to the gold consignment Tuesday.

Seven including Chinese and Indian nationals arrested in latest airport gold smuggling case

Police have arrested seven individuals in connection with the latest gold smuggling case.

The Department of Revenue Investigation on Wednesday had seized a huge quantity of gold that had passed undetected through the Tribhuvan International Airport customs. According to the department, around 80 to 100 kilograms of the precious yellow metal, suspected to have been brought from Hong Kong, was confiscated during a raid based on a tip-off.

Senior Superintendent Rajendra Khadka, the spokesperson of the Armed Police Force, informed that a team of department officials and personnel from the APF had confiscated a large quantity of the gold that was being taken in a taxi from the airport area.

“The confiscated metal will be taken to the Nepal Rastra Bank soon to determine the exact weight which will be done under the supervision of Inland Revenue Department officials,” Khadka told the Post on Thursday morning.

SSP Khadka informed that the police have so far arrested Rajendra Rai, the taxi driver, Ram Kumar Bhujel, Dilip Bhujel, Harka Raj Rai, an Indian national Thapten Tsering and a Chinese national.

The customs clearance was done by customs officer Ramesh Chand, and the item was inspected by Kumar Dhakal.

According to Punya Bikram Khadka, the spokesperson at the customs department, the process of suspending the employees involved in the inspection and clearance of the suspected gold has been started.