Police have nabbed two more drivers in connection to the 88 kg gold smuggling case.

A police team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) nabbed Dilip Khadka from Rasuwa and Dampa Tamang from Syaphrubesi.

It has been learnt that both of them had assisted to smuggle the precious yellow metal from Kerung border point in Rasuwa district to Kathmandu.

Police in the wee hours of Monday had seized 88kg smuggled gold—the biggest haul of the precious yellow metal ever confiscated—in the Capital.

A police team deputed from the MPCD had confiscated the gold worth over Rs 340 million at around 2am from Chhetrapati. 

Police had also arrested Manoj Adhikari of Makawanpur, who was driving a Tata Storme jeep which was ferrying the gold. 

Adhikari in his statement to police said the gold was smuggled from Kerung border point of China into Rasuwa. 

SSP Bibesh Lohini, Chief at the MPCD, during a press conference said that the owner of the gold is a Chinese and had some kind of connection in Nepal.

According to a preliminary investigation, the owner of the gold runs a hotel in Chhetrapati. Police on Monday raided the hotel—Kathmandu One—believed to be owned by the alleged smugglers.

Police said that Xia Qing, who runs the hotel in Chhetrapati, his wife Sun Shui and father Zhan Goa are suspected to have been operating a gold smuggling ring for quite some time.

Earlier on August 31, a police team deployed from Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had seized 15 kg gold out of 22 kg that was smuggled from China and arrested seven persons in connection with the smuggling.

Similarly, on January 5, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police had seized 33 kg gold from the Tribhuvan International Airport that had passed undetected through the customs.