12 Indians among 26 arrested in gem scandal in Nepal

Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jul 27 (PTI) Nepal police Monday claimed to
have busted a multi-crore international gems scam by arresting
26 people, including a dozen Indians involved in cheating
foreign tourists for decades by trapping them to pay money
through their credit cards.

A dozen Indian nationals including Nuri Khan from
Agra, Pappu Singh from Madhya Pradesh, Santosh Tiwari from
Bhopal, Rajiv Narayan from Jaypur and Anil Baliya from
Rajasthan were arrested from the gems scam that has fromThailand to India
and finally to Nepal, the police said.

There were at least seven groups involved in the gems
scam in which foreign tourists are cheated in the name of
trading gems and they end up without delivering any goods but
their credit cards were cashed in a dramatic way, said
Superintendent of Police Nawaraj Silwal.

They will even produce fake custom officer, fake
courier documents and make fake acts of going through all the
legal processes to deliver the gems to the homes of the
tourists. They even pack the gems in their presence through
the courier but after the tourist is out the agents go to the
courier and get back the packet.

The tourists thought that they have purchased gems and
paid the money through their credit cards, but in fact, all
the documents including the courier papers turn to be fake and
they will get nothing in return for their money.

The swindlers would formulate well planned strategy
starting from studying the behaviour of the tourists and then
making friendship with them and finally the tourists got
cheated with all their money ended up without delivering any
goods.

In some cases the tourists are also lured with the
assurance of paying a good commission for helping them in the
gems trade.

According to the police, first they would study the
tourists' behaviour offer them everything they need including
liquor, drugs, vehicles and even girls to prey on them. Then
they would develop friendship with the tourists in a short
period of time and win their confidence.

They would made a series of stage performances to
implement their strategy. The swindlers would make use of the
credit cards of the tourists by promising attractive
commission for helping them.

In fact, the gems would never been mailed out but the
tourists' money would end in the swindlers' hands. At the end
when the tourists realise that they were been cheated, it
would be too late for them to take any action.

The acts are so well organised that the cheated
tourists will be helpless and because of fear of police action
they never complain.

The police uncovered the gems racket after they
arrested Indian nationals Ismile Khan, Abbas Ali, Sabir Ali
and Shumsher Ali in the brown sugar case on July 1 as they
arrived in Kathmandu from Delhi on a flight.

The gems scam was revealed from them during the
interrogation. Then on the basis of their explanation the
police arrested over two dozen other people and also managed
to save two German tourists, who would be their potential
victims.

German tourists Vinzenz Schemmel and Viktor
Freudenhammer were freed from the rented house of the
swindlers and they were handed to the German Embassy.

The Gems scam originated in Thailand some four decades
ago and later it spread in Agra of India where Gulsan Makija
was known as the master mind of the scam.

After his murder, the scam spread to Jaipur, Agra and
then Dharamsala and ultimately it came to Nepal 20 years back
as the swindlers found the Himalayan nation a much safer place
to operate the scam. PTI SBP
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