Nepal becoming a "hub" for gold smuggling out of China
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - Nepal has become the main transit point for smuggling gold from China to other countries, as evinced by the growing number of smugglers being arrested.
This is the result of the anti-corruption campaign undertaken a year ago by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline as part of a five-year plan to "clean up" China's ruling class.
In Kathmandu, Communist Party officials and business people have found a safe haven where they can recycle their assets.
But in the last six months, Nepali police seized 46 kilos of gold, 14 in the last two days alone from two different smugglers.
The first one, Chen Rongjie, a Chinese national, was caught Wednesday with 8 kilos of gold concealed under her clothes at Tatopani, in Sindhupalchok District, on the border with China.
The day before, Muhammed Shanood, an Indian national, was arrested in the parking lot of the Tribhuvan International Airport with the 14 kg gold in a cloth belt.
According to Deputy Inspector General of Police Gopal Prasad Bhandari, Shanood was smuggling gold from China to India.
In fact, smuggling between China and India via Nepal appears to have become a major activity.
According to traders, every day 70 to 80 kilos of gold move between the two countries, most of it through Lhasa, then Tatopani.
According to gold trader Ratna Shakya, smugglers can earn up to Rs 500,000 bringing one kilo of gold from Hong Kong to Kathmandu.
"One kilo of gold in Hong Kong costs around Rs 4.2 million whereas its market price in Kathmandu is Rs 4.7 million," he said.
With prospects of handsome profits, the number of people involved in gold smuggling has jumped.
For experts, Nepal has become a transit hub because of poor security, domestic political instability, political leaders' connections to smugglers, and growing corruption.
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