Police seize gold worth Rs 15m in Tatopani
CHAUTARA, DEC 17 -
Police on Sunday morning recovered 3 kg of gold in Tatopani as it was being smuggled into local market from the Khasa, China. This is the second time in as many weeks that police have confiscated the precious yellow metal being smuggled from China.
As per the daily price fixed by the Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the gold recovered on Tuesday is valued at Rs 15.22 million.
Police had on Dec 4 seized 9 kg of gold from a container van heading to Kathmandu at Dhulikhel, Kavre.
Illegal import of gold is suspected to have increased in the recent days to make up the deficit created by limited supply from the commercial banks and to use the gold as mode of payment for smuggled goods from India.
Commercial banks are selling 15 kg of gold a day based on directive of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). As Indian currency notes remain scarce, smugglers of other goods are suspected to have used the gold to pay Indian exporters.
On Sunday, police recovered the 3 kg gold wrapped in cloth during a check up at the Friendship bridge in Tatopani. Acting on a tip-off that the gold was being smuggled on a motorbike, police had increased their vigilance on the bridge and found the gold left unclaimed.
One of the porters suspected of being used by the biker to get the gold across the bridge may have fled the scene leaving behind the gold , according to SP Kamal Giri of Armed Police Force at Lamoshangu. Police have handed over the gold to the Tatopani Customs Office and are investigating to track the owner.
More than 50 porters carry goods across the bridge everyday. Police say that smugglers are suspected to have used the porters to escape police checking in the border point. With the growing reports on gold being imported illegally from China, police have beefed up security checking in the Tatopani-Kathmandu section of the Aaraniko Highway. While the local market’s daily demand for gold is estimated at 30 kg, bullion traders claimed, the gold is being smuggled in from Hong Kong via Khasa and shipped to India.
“Smuggled gold temporarily enters the local retail market before being exported to India for buying Indian currency,” said a bullion trader. The Indian currency notes are sold at higher than the central bank’s official exchange rate. The gold trader said that despite the gold being sold at cheaper price in India, the yellow metal was being exported there to make profit on currency exchange, with IRs 100 selling for NRs 170—the official exchange rate stands at Rs 160 for IRS 100.
Another reason for the growth in smuggling is that the gold price in China is lower than in India, encouraging them to buy the yellow metal in China evading customs charges and sell it in India for the Indian currency. And use it as a mode of payment to import goods illegally from India. Traders expect gold smuggling to India to continue until the government increases the gold import quota and the Indian currency crisis cools down.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
