Four individuals, including a security guard and an agent at the Tatopani dry port and customs office, were detained on Tuesday evening in connection with the recent theft of vapes from the facility.

According to Superintendent of Police Rameshwar Karki, chief of the District Police, Sindhupalchok, 36 cartons of vapes were stolen from the customs office a few days ago.

Based on CCTV footage showing masked individuals cutting wires of vape boxes, police launched an investigation and recovered two of the stolen cartons near the customs guard’s room.

Following the lead, police detained the customs guard, the agent and two local residents for questioning. “They have been held on suspicion. We have not yet received a formal complaint from the customs office. Investigation is ongoing, and more details will be made public,” said Karki.

Sources said that a few weeks earlier, 980 cartons of vapes had been found inside a container of Silk Transport during an inspection. Each carton contained around 150 to 200 units, and the market price per vape ranged from Rs1,000 to Rs3,000. The seized vapes—over 150,000 in number—are now under customs surveillance.

Customs spokesperson Surya Kafle confirmed the four were taken into custody based on the discovery of the two cartons. “A representative has already left to file the official complaint,” he said.

Earlier, Tatopani customs chief Kamal Kumar Bhattarai had stated that the vapes were declared by the transporter and stored securely. He had said customs would release them if deemed legal after verification, or proceed with legal action if not.

Bhattarai could not be reached for comment.

In a separate case in December, police seized 86,000 vapes from Silk Transport’s Imadol warehouse. Two warehouse employees were released after submitting a Rs200 million bank guarantee. Previously, the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police had confiscated concealed vapes from a container entering via Tatopani along the Araniko Highway. In another instance, 855 vapes hidden by a truck driver were seized and handed over to the Department of Revenue Investigation.