Nepal Police has arrested two people on the charge of selling expired cosmetic items by putting new dates on the products.
The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office had raided warehouses situated at Sanobharyang-15 and Bhotebahal-22 of Kathmandu on Sunday.
Expired cosmetic items including body spray, air freshener, shampoo and car wash were found in the warehouses where employees were replacing the products’ expired dates with new dates before sending them to the market to be sold.
Police arrested 31-year-old Avinash Agrawal of Parsa, Birgunj and 41-year-old Mahabir Gajur of Sanobharyang, Kathmandu for their involvement in the fraud.
According to Investigation Officer SP Krishna Pangeni, Agrawal is the main suspect in the case. “He also has a business partner, who is on the run at the moment.”
Agrawal owns a company called Summit Enterprises, which has been involved in import and export of goods from India for four years now.
Police informed that Agrawal used to import expired cosmetic products from India and other countries.
Pangeni added that police recovered items worth Rs 20 million from the warehouses. He said an investigation was underway into where the goods were being sent.
He informed that the warehouses have been sealed in coordination with the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, Nepal (DoCSCP).
Those arrested have been transferred to the DoCSCP for further action.
“It has been found that new date stickers were being affixed on expired goods. We have recovered a large number of such stickers,” Khapung said
According to him, items with the logos of popular stores such as Bhatbhateni Supermarket and Big Mart were also found in the warehouses. We found that expired goods from Bhatbhateni and Big Mart were brought to the warehouses.
According to Khapung, the police had information that Agrawal used to bring expired goods from abroad free-of-cost and bring them to the warehouse after passing customs clearance.
