KATHMANDU: Former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, 68, was arrested on Sunday by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the Customs Act 2007 and the Organized Crime Act.

According to CIB spokesperson SSP Shivakumar Shrestha, Mahara was taken into custody from Khumaltar, Lalitpur-26, for his alleged involvement in a gold smuggling case linked to the seizure at Tribhuvan International Airport on December 25, 2022.

The case involved Chinese national Li Hansong, who arrived on a Fly Dubai flight carrying 730 electric cigarettes (vapes) in 73 packages, inside which gold worth Rs 85.5 million had been concealed.

Mahara had previously been implicated but not prosecuted in the case.

His arrest follows renewed investigation by the CIB into the organized smuggling network.