KATHMANDU, Dec 20: Tibetan businessmen have seized around 25 containers belonging to Nepali traders in the bordering city of Khasa. They have demanded that the 300,000 US dollars belonging to a Tibetan businessman, which was allegedly looted by two cops in Kathmandu in October, be returned to them.
According to Durga Lal Shrestha, president of Trans-Himalaya Trade Association (THTA), the containers loaded with various commodities have been kept at a parking lot by local Tibetan businessmen since Friday afternoon.
“The Tibetan businessmen say they want 300,000 US dollars back,” Shrestha quoted his fellow businessmen, whose containers have also been seized, as saying.
Besides the two cops, the then chief of Metropolitan Police Commissioner´s Office Additional Inspector General (AIG) Kalyan Kumar Timalsina has also been accused of his underhand involvement in the incident.
Though the amount has not yet been recovered yet, the case has finally been handed over to the court by Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu with the cops as defendants.
Shrestha claimed that Tibetan businessmen seized the containers to avenge the looting. “The case could even affect bilateral relations between Nepal and China,” he said, adding that the case should be handled at the state level.
According to Amreet Khadka, the treasurer of THTA, the Tibetans of Ambdo sect, to which the owner of the dollar belongs, seized the containers.
“The containers had already been checked by the local custom officials and was supposed to leave for Nepal on Friday,” Khadka added.
Chief of District Police Office Sindhupalchowk Pramod Kumar Kharel said that he had not received any complaint regarding the incident. “We have deputed a team comprising representatives of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF) and Immigration Office to talk with Chinese officials in this connection,” he added.
A Chinese official named ´Silu´, who looks after cross-country trade affairs in Khasa, met the team on Saturday morning, an APF official deputed at the Tatopani custom office told myrepublica.com.
“The Chinese official said it was only a minor dispute between Nepali and Tibetan businessmen and also assured us to resolve the case by Saturday evening. So we did not go there today,” he said, requesting anonymity. The containers, however, have not been freed till Saturday evening.
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