'Nepal seeks China's help to stop gold smuggling to India'

The Nepal government today sought Beijing's help to control gold smuggling after the yellow precious metal was found being smuggled to India from China via Nepal, according to a media report.

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa met with Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong and asked her for help to control gold smuggling saying that the yellow metal is being smuggled to India from China using the Nepal route, MyRepublica.com reported.

In reply, Hong said that she would inform the concerned authority in her country about the gold being smuggled through Chinese checkpoints, the website quoted the Nepal Ministry of Home Affairs as saying.

The government has been investigating the 33-kg gold smuggling case by forming a probe panel.

The gold smuggling case has become the national issue after security personnel, who are supposed to maintain law and order in the country, were themselves found involved in it, the report said.

Nepal Police had arrested an accomplice of Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of 33 kg gold smuggling case late last month.

During the investigation, police came to know that Gore and his associates had managed to smuggle more than 3,790 kg gold from Dubai via Tribhuvan International Airport in 421 trips since July 2015, Nepalese media reported.