KATHMANDU — Police in Nepal have detained 29 people following the break-in and looting of a heavy bank vault that was carried miles downstream by violent floodwaters before washing up on a riverbank in Dhading district.
The remarkable theft occurred after a glacial lake outburst spawned catastrophic flash flooding and landslips across northern mountain reaches. Swollen by torrential downpours and sudden meltwater, the raging Bhote Koshi River tore the steel vault from a financial institution in Rasuwa district. The heavy structure drifted into the Trishuli River system before running aground near Belkhukhola, situated within Ward 4 of Galchi Rural Municipality.
Rather than alerting law enforcement, local opportunists used heavy tools to force open the reinforced steel casing and plunder the currency stored inside. Dhading District Police dispatched an emergency task force to the area immediately after receiving reports that a crowd had gathered around the grounded safe.
A series of targeted raids across nearby settlements resulted in the arrest of 29 suspects, aged between 19 and 49. Officers recovered 9,268,505 Nepalese rupees (approximately 7.5 million BDT) in cash from the detainees. Police confirmed that most of those arrested reside in Masta village within the Galchi area, while others hail from Adamghat and Adamtar in Siddhatek. Several individuals originally from Chitwan and Parsa districts who were residing locally were also taken into custody. Forensic teams and financial crime investigators are working alongside banking officials to confirm the precise origin of the safe and identify any remaining suspects.
In another grim incident underscoring the breakdown of order in flood-hit zones, police arrested two men accused of robbing disaster victims. The arrests were made after a video circulated on social media showing the pair removing gold earrings from the corpse of a woman floating in the Narayani River.
These opportunistic crimes coincide with an unfolding humanitarian crisis across the Himalayan nation. Latest figures from Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority confirm that the death toll from the deluge and subsequent landslides has reached 669.
Relief and recovery efforts face severe disruption as severed telecommunications and destroyed mountain roads isolate remote communities. The number of missing Nepalese nationals rose sharply overnight from 1,924 to 2,426 after authorities established sporadic contact with previously cut-off mountain settlements. Meanwhile, the tally of missing foreign tourists and trekkers stands at 517. Armed forces personnel and emergency crews continue to wade through thick mud and debris along inundated river basins three days after the disaster struck.
