Two Nepali nationals have been arrested with 33 kilograms of gold from India.
Hem Prasad Sharma and Rakesh Prasad of Itahari, Sunsari were arrested by the Indian Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on December 7, according to the Home Ministry.
The DRI recovered the gold by taking a Maruti Swift car under control at Dankuni plaza in the outskirts of Kolkata. The gold may have been kept there to take it to New Delhi on a train from the railway station nearby.
The seized gold may be the missing 33 kilograms of gold smuggled from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at the start of the year. “Nepali nationals have been arrested with the gold and we suspect that it may be the missing gold smuggled through the TIA,” a ministry official told Setopati.
The Indian state of West Bengal is currently the transit point for gold smuggling, according to a police source. Thirty kilograms of gold was earlier recovered from Siliguri in the state, the police source said quoting Indian Police.
The issue of 33 kilograms of gold smuggled through the TIA on January 23 came to the fore after the body of Sanam Shakya of Urlabari, who died while being tortured on charge of stealing that gold, was recovered in Biratnagar on March 2.
