Crime

Are you a scotch whiskey lover and currently looking to buy some in Nepal?

Traders say the stock is limited - because the government has not lifted the ban on the import of luxury goods, including foreign liquors. That ban came into effect on April 26.

Yet that doesn’t mean the liquor market doesn’t have old stocks - including plenty of “made-in-Nepal” ones!

And they could be available in major cities, including Kathmandu valley, Pokhara, Bharatpur and so on.

Yes, expensive foreign liquors like Double Black, Black Label, and Jack Daniel’s are being “mixed up with locally brewed liquors and made in Nepal” itself - and liquor markets are flooded with them.

Still doubtful? Even the bottle caps are properly sealed, along with the customary excise duty labels.

That’s exactly what a Nepal Police investigation team that busted a fake foreign liquor manufacturing unit in Kathmandu found out.

Acting on a tip-off, the police team carried out a raid on August 23 in the Koteshwor area.

First off - the team raided the rented room of a prime suspect named Hari Oli and seized four sealed boxes of Double Black, Black Label, and Jack Daniel’s whiskey. In addition to caps, fake seals, and local liquors, it seized dozens of empty bottles of the much-sought-after foreign booze.

After interrogation, Oli leaked details of three other individuals involved in the illegal trade.

Subsequently, the police netted them too. Details provided by them led to the arrest of Bhagwan Basnet who operated the fake foreign liquor manufacturing factory in Changunarayan-2, Duwakot in Bhaktapur district.

The factory was filled with ready-to-go bottles of fake foreign liquor - plus local liquors and other tools used in packing the illegal products, police said. After further interrogation, the police arrested three other suspects - Bishal Oli, Majoj Khatri, and Gopi Shrestha, who were involved in the manufacturing and distribution process.

Preliminary investigation revealed that most of the foreign liquor was being sold to popular nightclubs, lounges, discotheques, Dohori places, Dance bars, and several liquor dealers inside and outside Kathmandu valley, police said.

The five are facing charges under black marketing and social crime acts.

Police officers say this may not be the only foreign fake liquor manufacturing factory illegally operating in urban Nepal, where foreign liquors are enjoyed by numerous connoisseurs, who are facing some shortages stemming from the ban.

The ban has also affected the hospitality industry as hoteliers have not been able to supply foreign liquors to their clients.