Police have finally managed to nab the main accused behind the 33 kg gold smuggling case.

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

Nepal Police in coordination with the Dubai police arrested Rajan Prasad Panth from TIA on Monday, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) spokesperson Meera Chaudhary said.

The CIB has claimed that Pantha has long been involved in the smuggling of gold.

Police are preparing to produce Pantha to the court who was detained soon after he landed at the TIA from Dubai.

Police had already arrested Gopal Bahadur Shahi, Dil Bandu Thapa from Santosh Kafle in connection to the incident.

Shahi was rounded up when he was about to get into a cab at the main exit gate (Golden Gate) of TIA with the 33 kg gold.

Following his arrest, the CIB team later arrested two other persons—Dinbandhu Thapa of Morang and Santosh Kafle Shahi of Dhanusha. The duo had reached the airport to receive the gold.

Following the incident, the Customs Department suspended six officials for “assisting the smugglers”.

The Customs has idled as many as 29 officials deployed to the airport, suspecting their role in abetting the smuggler. Nine more staffers were ejected from the airport on January 14.

Later on January 18, Nepal Police summoned SSP Shyam Khatri, who was stationed at the TIA, to the headquarters as part of the investigation and found him guilty.

The confiscated gold includes 244 biscuits, 18 chains and 11 rings. The smuggled gold was wrapped in a plastic and kept inside a luggage.

According to the CIB report, Rajendra Kumar Shakya, Malika Bajracharya Shakya, Ram Krishna Goyal, Kusum Goyal, Bibhuti Amol Bhalchandra and Pramod Shrestha had demanded the gold.