Tribhuvan International Airport continues to be vulnerable to smuggling
May 12, 2017
Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) is currently the only international airport operating in Nepal. It is handling all the pressures building up day by day and is criticized of poor facilities, corrupt systems and unmanaged infrastructures.
The aviation industry of Nepal is expanding day by day with increase in fleets and new airline companies. This situation has been inviting biggest challenges to TIA. Lack of parking spaces, inappropriate airport facilities, hefty procedures, corrupt system, smuggling and increasing air traffic are some of the major problems in the airport.
Specially, smuggling has become the major issue in Tribhuvan International Airport. Nepal Police has received plenty of smuggling cases till now and they have arrested the smugglers with their maximum effort. However, TIA is proving to be the easiest gateway for smugglers.
One of the airport high class officers was caught a week before (May 5) for smuggling 466 gram of gold that was brought to Kathmandu via Doha in a Qatar Airways flight. Likewise, a senior police officer (SSP) was caught on February 5, 2017 in connection with the case of 33 kg gold smuggling via the Tribhuvan International Airport.
A senior Captain from NAC was arrested on 9th April, 2017 after he was found possessing undeclared $93,600 at TIA. Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal filed a case on March 5 against 12 persons arrested on the charge of gold smuggling through TIA.
High ranking police officers along with airport x-ray scan surveillance officers and even high positioning officer from TIA Custom were involved in the smuggling of gold revealed by the police investigation.
These statistics have been degrading the fame and quality of the only international airport in the country. Hence, it is a matter of urgency for respective authorities to eradicate crimes from the airport and enhance maximum security.
