KATHMANDU: Two Chinese nationals arrested on suspicion of involvement in the gold smuggling case have been released.

According to the Central Spokesperson of Nepal Police, Kuber Kadayat Chinese citizens Li Jialin and Liu Fuyan have been released after finding no evidence of their connection with the gold smuggling case.

The Department of Immigration arrested them from the airport on Friday morning when they were about to go to China. They were blacklisted by Immigration at the request of the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI).

About 100 kg of gold that passed through Tribhuvan International Airport and reached Sinamangal was seized by DRI on July 18. After 18 days of investigation, the department handed over the incident to the police for further investigation.

Dilip Bhujel and Ramkumar Bhujel of Melung Rural Municipality-3 of Dolakha, Harkaraj Rai of Arun Rural Municipality-4 of Bhojpur, Indian citizen Thapten Chhiring, Customs agent Rajendra Rai, taxi driver Ashok Lama, Chinese citizen Ziquan Lin, Rajan Shrestha, owner of Trans Globus Service Pushkar Raj Bhatta, Krishna Shrestha, Customs Agents Yadav Parajuli Sudarshan Gautam, and Santosh Chand, Airport Customs Officials Kumar Dhakal, Saroj Shrestha, Naxal based warehouse official Surendra Tamang and Belgian citizen Dawa Chiring are in police custody.