- Floods in Nepal carried away a cash safe near the Trishuli River in Dhading district
- Police detained 29 people for breaking open the safe and recovered over Rs 92 lakh in cash
- Nepal's disaster authority reports 626 deaths and 2,426 people missing after recent floods
As devastating floods tore through parts of Nepal, a cash safe carried away by the raging waters became the centre of an unlikely crime story. Police have detained 29 people accused of breaking open the safe and making off with the money inside.
The safe was reportedly carried away by floods in the Bhotekoshi area of Rasuwa on September 10 and was later found along the Trishuli River near Belkhukhola in Galchhi Rural Municipality-4, Dhading.
According to Dhading police, they received information on September 12 that locals had broken open the safe and taken out the cash inside.
A police team was immediately sent to the spot and an investigation was launched. During preliminary searches, 29 people were detained and Rs 92,68,505 in cash was recovered from their possession, police said.
Most of the detained are residents of Mastar in Galchhi-4. Some are from Adamghat in Galchhi-6 and Adamtar in Siddhalek-7, while others originally belong to Chitwan and Parsa and are currently living in Dhading.
Police are probing the origin of the recovered cash and examining whether the incident involved additional suspects.
In another shocking incident, two people were arrested for allegedly stealing gold earrings from the body of a flood victim swept downstream in the Narayani River. The arrests came after a video went viral, reportedly showing the men removing what appeared to be gold earrings from the body of a woman carried away by the floodwaters.
Nepal's disaster authority on Saturday sharply revised its figures from the devastating floods, saying 2,426 people are now missing while the number of confirmed deaths has risen to 626.
The latest update showed a sharp increase in the number of missing Nepalis, up from 1,924 reported on Friday night. The number of foreign nationals unaccounted for remained unchanged at 517, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
The revised figures came three days after the floods swept through parts of the country, with search and rescue efforts still underway.
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