KATHMANDU, May 26: At Tribhuvan International Airport, immigration office staff, security personnel, airline employees, and travel agencies collude to carry out human trafficking under the guise of visiting visas.
About two years ago, the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office (KVCIO) of Nepal Police, during then Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha's tenure, uncovered this by investigating around 1,600 passports. A source claims that staff from the Home Minister's Secretariat still participate in human trafficking through visit visas.
A few days ago, the Home Ministry summoned Tribhuvan International Airport's Immigration Office chief, Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, on allegations of involvement in human trafficking under the guise of visit visas. Investigators also brought Khagendra Subedi, Kabita Paudel, and Balkrishna Khadka from Green Holidays Travel into the probe. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is leading the investigation. According to CIAA sources, the accused individuals implicated senior officials from the Home Ministry as well as staff working in the Home Minister's Secretariat.
Although police uncovered the involvement of Home Ministry employees in human trafficking two years ago, the source claims that the problem persists because authorities have failed to bring the culprits to justice. The investigation identified nine people, including then Immigration Officer Narbir Khadka from the airport office, involved in sending people abroad on visit visas. Officer Khadka had ties to the Maoist Center.
At that time, the investigation revealed that Narbir Khadka, Bimal Paudel, Tarabahadur Kunwar, Kushal Baral, Shailendra Dhakal, Bikash Dangol, Pitambar Rimal, and Sujan Phago-who worked at the airport Immigration Office-engaged in human trafficking. Following this, the police filed cases against them in court.
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The police also charged Geeta Shah, Arun Dahal, Saroj Kumar Yadav, and Ganesh Pandey with document forgery and organized crime and sent them to court. Govinda Panthi, then DSP of the KVCIO, led the investigation.
Statements claim that employees of the Home Ministry and the Home Minister's Secretariat also participate in human trafficking under the guise of visit visas. Authorities transferred Govinda Panthi while he was investigating the case.
On October 6, 2023, the KVCIO received 1,641 passports for investigation. Panthi said officials removed him from the investigation while he was still working on the case.
To stop human trafficking through visit visas, Nepal Police Headquarters deployed a team from the Human Trafficking and Investigation Bureau to Tribhuvan International Airport. However, the police removed the bureau team from the airport in Ashoj 2080 (mid-September to mid-October 2023). When the police redeployed the bureau team later, the immigration staff protested, and the police withdrew the team again.
The police investigating the case discovered that immigration staff colluded in human trafficking through visit visas. In response, Nepal Police Headquarters deployed the bureau team once more. However, the immigration staff protested again, forcing the police to withdraw the team, according to a source from Nepal Police Headquarters.
Human traffickers have illegally sent Nepali women from Tribhuvan International Airport to countries including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain via Oman. According to a source, immigration office staff share a portion of the money they receive for facilitating this trafficking with the Home Minister's Secretariat, the Home Secretary, and the Home Administration.
After the government tightened restrictions to stop sending women to Dubai on visit visas, travel agencies started using Oman as a transit point for human trafficking. The source also revealed that various airline companies, including Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways, have illegally transported Nepali women abroad.
Even though the government banned sending Nepali women as domestic workers to Gulf countries in 2016, traffickers have continued sending them there through collusion using various methods. They especially target women from rural and impoverished backgrounds, luring them with job promises in different countries.
Traffickers, working with various travel agencies and others, exploit the government's six-point criteria for traveling abroad on visit visas to send women to the Gulf and other countries. The government implemented this six-point guideline on January 24, 2024. Although the government requires specific documents for travel on visit and tourist visas, traffickers create and use fake documents to send women abroad.
Sources say traffickers send at least 250 women daily to Dubai alone under the guise of visit visas. Earlier, police reports required visit visa applicants to Dubai to submit a 12th-grade educational certificate and a bank statement. The six-point guideline also mandates documents such as a round-trip air ticket.
Although the new guideline requires travelers on visit visas to carry at least $500, airline staff collude to issue boarding passes even when passengers carry less than the required amount. The government does not have data on how many women these traffickers have sent abroad this way or their whereabouts. Since 2016, traffickers have illegally sent about 300,000 Nepali women to Gulf countries as domestic workers.
