Smuggling has started from Mustang's Corolla checkpoint, taking advantage of the poor presence of staff and security personnel. It was revealed that the smuggling started after the seizure of 19,000 electronic cigarettes (Vape) imported without paying customs duty. Stakeholders say that smugglers have taken advantage of the Corolla crossing because it is not organized.

About 15 km from the checkpoint towards Jomsom, armed police and customs personnel are stationed. Mustang police seized the Chinese merchandise including vape while taking it to Beni. The vape seized on December 19 was handed over to the revenue investigation by the police. Police Inspector Sagar Paudel of District Police Office Mustang said that the vehicle was taken into custody near the check post of Annapurna Conservation Area in Gharpazhong rural municipality-4 Jomasong. 

Mustang Police has handed over the person including the driver to revenue investigation.  Sources said that the owner who smuggled the vape through the

driver is being searched for. The Revenue Investigation Department is investigating the theft. 

Due to the lack of physical infrastructure, there are no conditions for customs staff and police to stay at the border of China. The border lacks water, communication, housing and even food. Taking advantage of this, a limited amount of commercial goods are stored in one place and brought to Jomsom, the revenue source has informed. 

Director General of Customs Department Harisharan Pudasaini said that due to the lack of physical infrastructure, it was not possible to increase surveillance by staff at the border. Pudasaini said that the department has proposed a budget by making a plan to arrange the building and the arrangement of the office at least. He says that although there is an officer post in Corolla Customs, there are only sub-level employees. "But since the employees are far from the border, the customs inspection and monitoring is not effective," he said. In the joint efforts of the Revenue Investigation Department and the police, a large amount of vape smuggled into Nepal has been seized. According to department sources, within two weeks, around 120,000 pieces of vape were seized and the investigation started. Since the vape imported from China mainly comes from Rasuwa and Tatopani, this time the Corolla channel has also been used. Even though there is a legal provision to import vape by paying the revenue, the theft has not been stopped. 

86 thousand  than vape seized 

Based on information that vape is being smuggled into Nepal by evading customs, the department seized 86,000 vape from a warehouse in Mahalakshmi municipality of Lalitpur just a week ago. 95 cartons of vape containing 19,000 units were seized from Mustang through the special surveillance of the Revenue Investigation Department and its subordinate offices and police. According to the department, 15,000 vape were seized from Pathalaiya and 4,000 from Butwal. A revenue source said that an investigation is underway to find out the linkage of the vape seized by the department.