Who is the owner of 25 million illegal foreign currency?
Kusang Lama, known as 'Fuchche', who was arrested from Kathmandu with illegal foreign currency worth Rs. 250 million, had previously spent four more years in jail after failing to pay the bail in the case of illegal gold smuggling. On December 13, 2073, he was arrested with 7 kg of gold in the air filter of his Toyota Hilux vehicle bearing the number Ba 8 Ch 7420.
The bench of Judge Tejendra Sharma Sapkota in the Kathmandu District Court on 26th June 2074 gave a verdict of Rs. He had to stay in jail for five years after not paying the prescribed fine.
In his statement in the court at that time, Lama said that he had started driving the vehicle in which the gold was found only 15 days ago. He said in the court statement, 'The car belongs to Indralal Shrestha. I managed to pay 70,000 monthly rent to the moneylender. Bhote brought the seized gold from China to Kerung and sent it to me to take it to Kathmandu.'
Lama told the court that he did not know the name of Rasuwa and that he was brought by a driver who was allowed to go to China. He said in the statement, "I took out the gold from Timure and put it in the car No. 8 Ch 7420 that I was driving and brought it to Kathmandu."
In the court statement, he said that he would give the gold to Kathmandu Swayambhu after calling him, and he also said that he would get 120,000 rupees for bringing the gold. In the statement, the lama said, 'The said gold is not mine. There is no proof of that gold purchase. I am only a porter.' But the court convicted him because 7 kg of gold was recovered from Lama along with the vehicle, but he could not reveal who the gold belonged to. In the judgment of Sapkota, it is mentioned that the defendant could not reveal the appropriate basis for keeping the goods in the air filter of the vehicle in a place where no one could see, when it was seen that the goods given by Bhote were being transported hidden in the air filter of his vehicle. The fact that he would get an amount of more than 1 lakh for bringing goods to Faisal also held him guilty saying that he could not have brought the goods without knowing that it was gold. According to section 57(1) (e) of the Customs Act 2064, Lama was sentenced as follows.
After being released from prison, the police suspect that Lama has been working as a porter and driver in gold smuggling. Even in the latest case, the police suspect that the money recovered from him may belong to a Chinese person.
Sindhupalchok Bhotekoshi, a resident of Gaupalika-1, was living in a camp in Gokarneshwar Municipality-2 of Kathmandu along with his Lama family. Although he said to the police that the truck No. 7 B 1652 he was driving was bought by his brother, it has not been confirmed yet.
"After taking control of the truck at night, the issue of money came to light", said Kazikumar Acharya, information officer of the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, "The whole day was spent counting money." We submitted it to the Revenue Investigation Department on the same day. Further investigation is ongoing.'
