The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bumthang police arrested a 26-year-old man, a freelance driver, from Dagarthang village under Tshenkhar Gewog in Lhuntse, on April 5 for larceny.
A man was conned and robbed during a sales transaction. He filed a complaint with the police that subsequent to his advertisement for USD 8,000 sale on Facebook on March 31, he received a call from an unknown person desiring to buy the dollars.
The victim also stated that the person, posing as a staff of Foreign Ministry, had asked him to come to the National Assembly building on April 1 with the dollars. After a meeting in the parking lot of the National Assembly building on April 1 at around 11:50 hrs, the suspect agreed to pay an exchange rate of Nu 65 per dollar.
It was then that the suspect took over the dollars from the victim stating that he would go inside the NA building to bring the ngultrum cash from his Dasho. The victim was made to wait outside as he not in formal attire.
After waiting for an hour, the suspect failed to return and the victim had tried to contact him but the suspect’s phone was switched off by then. The victim went to his house to change into his formal attire and then returned to Foreign Ministry to inquire about the suspect.
However, to the victim’s surprise, no one had any idea about the suspect and he was nowhere to be seen. Police investigation team visited the scene and found only a blurred image of the suspect on the CCTV footage.
After a detailed investigation, the Bumthang police could trace the suspect in Bumthang on April 5. The suspect has confessed to the crime, and police seized USD 1,500, Nu 80,500, INR 27,000 from the suspect. A second hand Alto car, which he purchased from the money, was seized as well.
He has been handed over to the Thimphu police on April 6 for detention, and shall be charged for larceny by deception under the Penal Code of Bhutan. The case is under further investigation.
Meanwhile, Royal Bhutan Police has warned people to be wary of such money exchange, stating, “We would like to caution the general public that the sale and purchase of foreign exchange, other than the bank and the authorized money changer, is illegal under foreign exchange regulation, and further advice to be cautious of such modus operandi by the miscreants.”
