The Centre of Everything

Such is the desperation that Nepalis are ready to do just about anything to leave the country. The fake Bhutanese refugee scam could just be the tip of an iceberg. 

Nothing new here. Back in 2003, Nepali Times published an investigation about how Kathmandu was a centre for human trafficking. Twenty years down the line, immigration at Kathmandu airport has become a den of middlemen. Six thousand young Nepalis leave for work or study abroad everyday. Many are harassed. 

Excerpts of the report published 20 years ago this week in issue #156 1-7 August 2003:

Name any human smuggling racket these days, and Kathmandu most likely will figure in the scam.

Nepalis travelling on fake passports, often with phony visas. Nepalis deported from cities around the world because the photo on their passports have been switched. Iraqis with fake Portuguese passports travelling to Europe through Kathmandu. Chinese nationals using fake Japanese passports bought in Bangkok transiting Kathmandu en route to Kansai.

Kathmandu airport is not just where Nepalis use fake documents to get out of their country, it is also getting the reputation among the international human smuggling networks as an 'easy' airport to transit. Our lax controls, immigration desks with inadequate counterfeit detection equipment, rampant corruption, and a huge domestic demand for fake travel documents from Nepalis desperate to migrate for a better life make it an ideal jump-off point.

Last year, a Chinese national travelling on a stolen US passport with the photograph changed, chose Kathmandu as a transit point to sneak into the US because he knew he would not be detected by airport authorities here. Interestingly, the man had already cleared immigration when he was caught, but his passport had no departure stamp. There are numerous instances where a person who cleared immigration on one passport and ticket has left Kathmandu on another.

For archived material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com