The Paro District Court sentenced two Indians in two separate gold smuggling cases. They were handed down with prison terms ranging from more than five years to nine years. Both of them were arrested at the Paro International Airport last year.
24-year-old Mohammed Rashid Ali was arrested at the Paro International Airport for smuggling six kilogrammes of gold. He was coming from Bangkok on a morning flight on the 30th of August last year.
According to the judgment, customs officials suspected him and conducted a body search and found six gold bars, each weighing one kilogramme, hidden in his pocket.
Police discovered that he had brought the gold from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It was given to him by his employer, who paid for his flight and hotel.
He was supposed to hand over the gold bars to a Bhutanese upon arrival at Paro airport.
Further, the judgment states that the convict knowingly concealed the gold and failed to inform or declare it to relevant authorities.
So, the court sentenced him to nine years and six months in prison on Wednesday.
According to the Penal Code of Bhutan, for smuggling, it is a value-based sentencing.
The six kilogrammes of gold smuggled were worth over Nu 31 M. It was calculated according to the Royal Monetary Authority’s rate on the day he was arrested.
In another case, the district court also convicted 35-year-old Jayabalaji Muthralingam to five years and six months in prison today.
He was arrested for illegally wearing a gold chain and a bracelet amounting to 500 grammes at the Paro International Airport on the 17th of September last year.
He entered the country on a tourist visa from Thailand.
According to the judgment, he confessed that he visited Bhutan as a tourist to evade India’s gold import restrictions.
Moreover, the judgment states that he failed to declare the gold to relevant authorities.
The gold was worth about Nu 2.6 M.
Kinzang Lhadon
Edited by Tshering Zam
