Police on Thursday night arrested five individuals who were allegedly smuggling 58 cartons of e-cigarettes to India.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team from the Bagmati Province Police Office and the Makwanpur District Police detained them in Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City-11 with a consignment worth around Rs27.12 million.

The e-cigarettes, also called vapes, were being smuggled on a bus heading to New Delhi, India, from Kathmandu.

The arrestees are 37-year-old Salam Moktan from Dolakha, 27-year-old Prabindra Rana from Udayapur, 39-year-old Indra Bahadur Darji from Nuwakot, and 30-year-old Santosh Bhusal and 29-year-old Raj Kumar Himang from Dhankuta.

According to Superintendent of Police Sitaram Rijal, chief of Makwanpur District Police Office, the individuals had allegedly been smuggling various goods by creating false bottoms in the roof area of the bus just above the seats. Police said the gang had been using this modus operandi for a long time to evade customs.

“A preliminary investigation suggests that the e-cigarettes entered Nepal through the Chinese border. We are forwarding the case to the Department of Revenue Investigation,” said SP Rijal.