KATHMANDU: Police have arrested two more gold traders in connection with 14 kg of silver and a half kg of gold recovered at Kamaladi in the capital.

Police have arrested Srinivas Upadhyay of Lucky Jewellers of New Road and Vijay Tamrakar of Astamangal Jewelry on August 31.

Police have also launched an investigation into the organized crime behind the gold racketeeing.

The smugglers had bought a half kilo of gold from Lucky Jewellers’ Srinivasa Upadhyaya. Upadhyaya, on the other hand, had bought it from Vijay Tamrakar of Astamangal Jewelry.

According to SP Somendra Singh Rathore of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), Kathmandu, Tamrakar had bought a half kg of gold from Nepal Rastra Bank.

‘Gold bought from banks can only be sold as jewelry. However, police arrested Vijay Tamrakar and Astamangal for selling the gold without making jewelries, ‘said SP Rathore.’

They also bought silver from Silver House in New Road. Police have not arrested the operator.

“He has not been arrested as he can only sell silver,” said SP Rathore.

SP Rathore said that the investigation into the case has reached the final stage.

“It’s been 42 days since we started our investigation. We must submit a report to the government prosecutor’s office within 60 days. We will submit it within 50 to 55 days, ”he said.

At present, 11 people, including two businessmen, are in custody.

The arrested smugglers are Aitaf Hussain Ansari, Nilesh Shakhia, Kaushal Patel, Dewan Singh Patel, Vijay Patel, police constable Prasanna Shrestha and his husband Umesh Shrestha, police constable Bahadur Singh Kadayat and Kaligarh Manish.

Police also arrested a taxi driver in the course of investigation. But he was released by the police as no evidence showed his involvement.