Gold Smuggling in Nepal: Banged Up Abroad

At first when i came across this, I thought of this as an ordinary smuggling gone wrong, but i was so wrong. "Banged Up Abroad" is an old tv series on English tv channel "five". It mostly showed how people get caught up in wrong-doings in other countries. "Banged-Up Abroad: Nepal" is an exciting episode set in the early 90's.

              Piers Henru is a 41 year old English Journalist living happily in an English suburb. You could find him on facebook if you like! He tells the story of when he was younger. As a cure of depression, he is travelling in Asia when he comes across when he comes across this american friend of his who shows him an easy way of making money by carrying gold to Nepal($2000 in a week). 

               Teaming up with a French, an Aussie backed up by the Chinese and some Nepalese gangsters in Hong Kong, this group of globetrotters from all around the world carry 1.3 million dollars worth of gold in vests and get on a flight to Nepal only to find out the pre-arranged corrupt officials were taken off-duty that day. The story takes amazing twists. The documentry is put together amazingly. The Nepalese characters do better jobs than most of kollywood stars. Hence even though it was released long time ago, I thought I'd bring it up for all of you who have missed out.

              Gold smuggling is thought to be particularly large especially because gold can be easily imported to India and there's demand for gold in Nepal which can't be always fulfilled by the government. Official records show substantial imports of gold, but few gold exports, even though it is well known that most of the gold imports are intended for the Indian market. Recent efforts to combat smuggling appear to have at least changed the dominant mode from men driving trucks and buses to individuals, many women and children, driving bicycles.

               The Customs Act of 1997 sought to simplify custom procedures, but there have been persistent complaints about the gap between policy and practice, particularly in terms of delays and arbitrary assessments. Under the program of economic reforms for FY 2002/03, the government has announced an intention to introduce a post-clearance audit as a means of reducing complaints about customs evaluation. Corruption has taken a major role in most of the smuggling. Number of smuggling cases still come up in the News. 

                Disregarding of the financial chaos unannounced gold can cause to a country(inflation), Nepalese gang have also been involved in number of gold smuggling in other countries as well. Lack of proper technology( e.g. metal detector doors in the 90's), corrupt system and open-borders with India has been a perfect setup for crimes in Nepal for years. Addressing these would be the solution of many problems.