A gold and silver trader has fled with gold ornaments worth millions of rupees kept as collateral at his jewellery shop in Thakurwadi of Biratnagar in the district.

Binod Soni, operator of Binod Jeweller, decamped with the gold ornaments kept by the customers at his shop as collateral months ago.

The owners of gold ornaments have been marooned after Soni made off with the precious yellow metal.

Soni, a permanent resident of Rani, Biratnagar, has been operating the shop at the house of Suresh Agrawal for the past 10 years.

The victims informed police after the shop did not open for three months.

Police in the presence of locals and house owner broke the padlock of the shop on Monday.

According to eyewitnesses, the shop was empty when police entered the shop after breaking the bolt.

It has also been learnt that Soni had not paid the house rent for the past one year.