By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU (Reuters) -Ukrainian climber Andrew Ushakov, who completed a journey from sea level to the summit of Mount Everest in a record four days, has been released on bail following his arrest for carrying undeclared foreign currency, a Nepali official told Reuters on Tuesday.
“He has to face the charges in court,” said Chandi Prasad Ghimire, director general of the Department of Revenue Investigation. “If he chooses to raise hands (not fight the case in court) he forfeits the bail money.”
Ghimire had previously said that the bail was set at $60,000 — three times the amount allegedly carried by Ushakov, 40, when he was taken into custody on Sunday.
“Andrew is now out of custody after a misunderstanding,” Ushakov’s public relations team told Reuters on Tuesday. “He is grateful for the support he has received and is currently working to clarify all matters with the relevant authorities.”
Ushakov, a structural engineer who lives in the United States, flew from New York to Nepal on May 15 before scaling Everest without the usual period of several weeks of acclimatisation.
He said he did not use Xenon, the gas inhaled by four British former special forces soldiers who scaled Earth’s highest mountain last week, in five days, after leaving London. The climbers used Xenon to pre-acclimatise themselves to the low-oxygen envionment they would encounter as they journeyed toward the 8,849-metre summit.
Police official Nakul Pokhrel said that the undeclared foreign currency was detected during baggage screening as Ushakov readied to board a plane leaving Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city.
Anyone carrying foreign currency worth more than $5,000 is required to declare it to the authorities in Nepal.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Olivier Holmey)
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