Police in Paro are investigating an alleged gold smuggling case. Officials say they have retrieved more than a kilogram of gold that was discovered from the toilet of one of Bhutan Airlines aircrafts at Paro airport.
According to our sources, the gold was found by three ground staff of the airline company from one of the aircrafts. That was about two months ago in May.
One of the employees while cleaning the plane that had returned from Bangkok came across three toothpaste covers attached to a washbasin of the plane’s toilet.
In them were two packages each that contained brownish powders. The staff then informed two other colleagues who were in the plane and examined the suspicious-looking packages.
They then decided to keep the packages for themselves.
After a few days, the trio took the packages to Thimphu, melted the powders and made them into small gold bars and coins. Rumours then spread catching the police’s attention. Police traced the three ground staff a few weeks ago and retrieved the gold from them.
The trio have not been charged as of now since they cooperated with the police and handed over the gold to them.
Meanwhile, the Bhutan Airlines said that they did not receive any formal complaints from the police or authorities. However, the company said that they learned about the case from internal sources. The company added that it is doing an internal inquiry of the case.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
Edited by Kipchu
