The chase for gold

The connivance of security officers in yellow metal smuggling exposes the faultlines of policing in Nepal.

They are the strangest of bedfellows, police and smugglers. But in Nepal, they often work perfectly in tandem, pulling off high-profile gold smuggling feats like pros. But even the best-laid plans sometimes blow up in the faces of the professionals. That's when it becomes apparent that those who should, in an ideal state, be natural enemies are working as brothers in arms. Only that the public fails to be shocked each time, as the history of the country's wretched policing system repeats first as a tragedy then as a farce.