July 11: Police have busted a racket involved in using Nepali migrant workers to smuggle gold into the country. A police squad from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office arrested 12 people on the charge of smuggling gold from abroad and made them public on Monday.

Those arrested are 25-year-old Ramdev Mahara of Mithila Bihari Municipality-5 of Dhanusha, 24-year-old Dharmadev Yadav of Sirha Municipality-17 of Sirha and 23-year-old Dharma Prasad Murau of Suddhodhan Municipality-6 of Kapilvastu.

Similarly, 34-year-old Naresh Panjiar of Janakpurdham-5 of Dhanusha, 36-year-old Lal Bahadur Wali of Rapti Sonari-5 of Banke, 27-year-old Kisunlal Sahu Teli of Balambihu-2 of Saptari, 35-year-old Vinod Kumar Shah and 22-year-old Asharam Yadav of the same municipality were also arrested by the police and made public during a press conference.

Similarly, Sanju Kumari Shah, Durga Prasad Yadav and Devanand Shah are among those arrested while collecting gold.

Police have also arrested Mohan Kumar Yadav of Siraha in connection with the case. It has been revealed that he was depositing and withdrawing money from Shiva Sundar Raut's account.

The head of Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office and Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar KC said that Shiva Sunder Raut, the owner of Ritesh General Store in Siraha was involved in bringing illegal gold through immigrant workers. 

According to him, it has been revealed that Shiva Sundar has been mobilizing people who are employed abroad for a long time to bring illegal gold. Bank details obtained by the police show that his account had transactions worth Rs 1.96 billion since 2019.

The police informed during the press conference that Shiva Sundar Raut was arrested from Siraha, and Vinod Kumar Shah who was operating the Hotel Himalayan Spire in Sinamangal was also arrested by the police.

According to the police, the smugglers were offered Rs 5,000 to 10,000 or free accommodation in hotels for smuggling the gold. 

SSP KC shared that 828 grams of gold was recovered from five people.