Nepal government to sell 1.2 million masks confiscated from black marketers

  • March 17, 2020

The government, today, decided to sell more than 1.2 million face masks, seized from black marketeers conducting raids on warehouses across the suspicious places of capital, at market price in the wake of acute shortage of masks due to coronavirus scare.

Police have punished and fined different stores and pharmacies for selling a mask that costs less than Rs 5 for more than Rs 30.

All the masks, seized by police after conducting a raid, are kept in a warehouse of Kathmandu District Administration Office as evidence against arrested black marketeers.

Kathmandu Chief District Officer Janak Raj Dahal with Attorney General Agni Prasad Kharel and Nepal Police chief Inspector General Thakur Prasad Gyawaly has decided to circulate the confiscated masks in the market through public health bodies.

Since the confiscated masks are the evidence in cases filed against black marketeers, the government will maintain a digital record of the seized masks before selling them off, said CDO Dahal.

The Office of Attorney General later issued a notice stating that police would receive the money equivalent to market price of masks through the government bodies that sell them to the public.