KATHMANDU: A Bhutanese refugee arriving in Nepal from the United States was arrested with illegal gold from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Thursday.

Bhutanese refugee Anishhang Bahing Rai was arrested from TIA after it was found that he was attempting to smuggle gold into the country by concealing the yellow metal inside a drone, said TIA Chief Customs Administrator Mahesh Bhattarai.

According to Bhattarai, the arrested had brought the drone in a handbag and was reluctant to pass it through the X-ray machine at TIA.

“After he exhibited suspicious behavior, we scanned the handbag and the machine detected a suspicious object. We found a gold biscuit hidden near the lens of the drone,” he said.

Initially, 100 grams of gold was recovered from him after which security personnel also checked his other luggage.

According to Bhattarai, silver-plated metals were also recovered from the inside of the shoe kept in the luggage.”We found 934 grams of gold-like metal coated with silver inside the shoe,” he said, adding, “Forensic test of the objects was underway and the report is yet to be received.”

The TIA customs personnel also seized five phones from him.

Rai has been kept in the custody of Gaushala Metropolitan Police Circle and investigation is underway.