The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has identified two persons as the owners of a huge cache of gold that was seized from the Tribhuvan International Airport on January 5.

The CIB, whose deadline for investigating into 33kg gold seizure ends on Sunday, has submitted the case to the government attorney, identifying Harisharan Khadka and Guptalal Bhusal aka Roshan as the owners of the smuggled gold. 

Khadka and Bhusal are believed to be living in Dubai and police are working to get them repatriated with the help of Interpol. 

A source said Bhusal had left Nepal a day after the precious metal was seized. 

The CIB on January 5 had nabbed Gopal Bahadur Shahi who had landed at the TIA from the UAE in an Air Arabia flight with the gold and managed to sneak through airport security. 

So far the CIB has arrested eight persons, including SSP Shyam Khatri, in connection with the gold smuggling case.  

According to the CIB, SSP Khatri, who was stationed at the TIA when the gold was smuggled, was found to have received kickbacks from smuggler(s).

Khatri and his team used to “clear” the contraband for kickbacks, the sourced added.

The CIB had also arrested TIA customs officials Shree Narayan Yadav and Raj Kumar Dhakal for their involvement in abetting criminals in smuggling the contraband.