Kathmandu, July 30
A team of officials from the Department of Revenue Investigation, which is investigating a 100 kg gold smuggling case, raided a factory in Tokha on Saturday night.
According to a senior official of the department, the place was used to melt gold and mould it into a different form.
The department has sealed the place.
From there, the department has recovered bags of wood kept for lighting fire, equipment used for melting gold, acid bottles and handles for grabbing onto the hot pot with liquid gold.
“The group gold smugglers are different. They are much bigger than we expected,” said an investigator.
The team, however, does not know what the gold was moulded into. According to a source, they think the gold was being moulded into something else, as they believe it would raise suspicion when they smuggled it to India.
“India produces brake shoes and these smugglers knew it would raise suspicions which is why they have used a different form to smuggle it out of Nepal,” said an official of the department.
The officials believe the group was smuggling gold in large quantities.
The department reached the factory based on the statement of one person it arrested in connection to the 100 kg gold smuggling case. So far, Nepal Police have arrested 18 people in connection to the case. The police, on Sunday, arrested a Belgian national from a Hotel Vienna in Thamel.
Police believe Chinese national Lin Zeqiang is the biggest fish they have caught in connection to the 100 kg gold smuggling case.
