Shreejana Shrestha

The Department of Immigration (DoI) has seized 118 fake Nepali passports in the last two months alone, indicating that handwritten passports continue to be misused both by Nepali nationals and foreigners.

According to a data obtained by Republica from DoI, 67 people, including 11 Indian nationals, were found in possession of fake Nepali passports in January, 2012. DoI officials had also arrested a Sri Lankan national in January at the Tribhuvan International Airport for using fake passport.

“The trend of using fake passports is on the rise,” said Sudhir Kumar Shah, director general at DoI. He informed that most of those arrested for possessing fake passports had tampered with the original photographs.

“The trend is on the rise as those using such passports are mostly illiterate and unaware about the consequence of such a grave offence.” Most of those arrested were workers who had returned from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, 51 people were arrested for using fake passports at TIA in February alone. Of them six were Indian and two Chinese nationals. The two Chinese were arrested in possession of fake Japanese passports.

This is the second time DoI officials have arrested Chinese nationals for possessing fake passports. Prior to this, DoI officials had arrested seven Chinese nationals for possessing fake passports.

A DoI official said that the Chinese nationals are in police custody. Likewise, DoI has already filed cases against those found possessing fake passports at the Kathmandu District Court.

Published on: 31 March 2012 | Republica