KATHMANDU: Police have arrested six people, including four Indians, involved in illegal gold and silver trading in Lalitpur.
Based on a tip-off about suspicious activities in a rented apartment on the third floor of an under-construction building in Lalitpur Metropolitan-14, Talchikhel, a team from the Satdobato Police Circle raided the location.
During the raid, police apprehended six people, including Indian national Yuvraj Vibhute, who had rented the apartment.
Interrogations revealed that the suspects were conducting illegal operations from multiple rented apartments in Kathmandu and Lalitpur.
Police seized 1,587.51 kg of illegal gold and 1,153.22 kg of silver from the apartment.
Tests confirmed that the seized items were genuine gold and silver.
Additionally, the police confiscated Rs 5.83 million and INR 8,550 from the apartment.
The arrested people include Yuvraj Vibhute (28), the main operator, resident of Talchikhel, Lalitpur, originally from Sangli, Maharashtra, India; Vikram Yalwar (20), an associate of Yuvraj, a resident of Maharashtra, India; Abhishek Vibhute (18), an associate of Yuvraj, a resident of Maharashtra, India; Vijay Sampat (21), a resident of Solapur, Maharashtra, India, currently living in Maitri Chowk, Tokha Municipality-5, Kathmandu; Siddhant Chaulagain (20), a resident of Suryabinayak Municipality-1, Biruwa, Bhaktapur and
Yashwant Sunar (20), a resident of Mahalaxmi Municipality-8, Lalitpur.
The police also seized various items from the apartment, including one digital scale, three weighing machines, one rubber stamp, two gold melting machines, one carat meter for testing gold quality, one cash-counting machine, eight mobile phones from various companies, one black Nokia keypad mobile phone.
In addition, the police found 30.20 grams of black metal powder, a rod-like white metal piece, 580 grams of copper-like wire, a laptop, a hard disk, a pen drive, a black box labeled “Ojhwa” network video recorder, another box labeled “Netis,” SIM cards, checkbooks, cash deposit vouchers, four diaries and notebooks with records, 30 bill receipts, eight other documents, and four checks in Yuvraj Vibhute’s name.
Seven cooperative passbooks, four customs office receipts, and two bill pads were also seized.
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