A Canadian national has been arrested in possession of 9 kg of gold from Tribhuvan Airport on Wednesday.

According to the Airport Customs Office, Mohammad Kamal Mohgob, a Canadian citizen of UAE origin, who arrived from Dubai, was arrested by the customs officials on Wednesday night.

Yamraj Pandey, the spokesperson at the airport customs office, said that Mohammad was arrested in possession of 9.135 kg of illegal gold.

According to Pandey, the Canadian had made false buttons on his waist to smuggle eight bars of the precious yellow metal each weighing over 1 kg. Pandey said that the officers had also confiscated a blue-coloured metal from him, which after a test was found to be gold.

Pandey informed that further investigation is underway.

Nepal is being used as a transit point to smuggle gold to India. Earlier last month, two Sudanese nationals were arrested with 19 kg of gold.

The officials involved in the investigation said that the gold recovered on Wednesday night may also be part of the same smuggling operation.