Doma Sherpa, 25, Sange Tamang, 16, Maya Sherpa, 30, Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, 25, and Pemba Sherpa, 27, were arrested with 78,000 US dollars, 136,000 Chinese yuan and nine kg of pangolin scales by police at Larcha security post just five kilometers from Tatopani, a border village between Nepal and China. [break]
While Doma, Sange and Maya are from Sindhupalchok district, Chitra and Pemba hail from Parsa and Sankhuwasabha districts resepctively. Pemba, Sange and Maya had hidden pangolin scales by strapping them around their legs. While Doma had hidden US dollars, Chitra had strapped Chinese yuan around his waist. They were all travelling to Tatopani by a bus (Ba 2 Kha 6947) along the Araniko Highway.
Police said they were tipped off about the smuggling of foreign currencies and pangolin parts. "If we had not been tipped off, we could not have nabbed them," said inspector Manoj Lama, chief of Larcha police post. "They had hidden foreign currencies and pangolin parts very cleverly."
The bus in which the smugglers were travelling had passed through about a dozen and a half police checkpoints along the Araniko Highway. But, the Larcha post, which was informed about the smuggling, took time and released the bus only after recovering illegally-possessed foreign currencies and pangolin parts.
Although seizure of illegally-possessed foreign currencies and wildlife parts are nothing new along the Araniko Highway, the method of smuggling US dollars, Chinese yuan and pangolin parts to Tatopani in this case was unprecedented. According to police, such items were seized only from private jeeps and cars in the past. "Never before had police seized illegally-possessed foreign currencies and wildlife parts from a passenger bus," said inspector Lama. "This is new method of smuggling."
In Nepal, possession of foreign currencies more than certain amounts is illegal. People from whom police seize illegally-possessed foreign currencies can be charged with misappropriation of foreign currencies. And, trade of parts of endangered species like pangolin is prohibited in Nepal.
In the last two years alone, police have seized illegally-possessed US dollars seven times and Chinese yuan thrice along the Araniko Highway. Similarly, around 172 kgs of pangolin scales have been seized so far from the Araniko Highway. Pangolin scales are said to be on high demand in China due to its medicinal value in Tibetan medicine. Pangolin scales are used even in designing ornaments and clothes.
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