As many as 36 Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in Kuwait with Nepali passports, Nepal’s local mission and media reported today.

It is the latest in the series of fraudulent activities by Bangladeshi nationals. The Bangladeshis had entered the Gulf nation on Nepali passports, which were handwritten, not machine readable.

Bangladesh has already reached the ceiling imposed by Kuwait for letting its citizens work in the Arab state, hence several Bangladeshi nationals have been using racketeers to procure Nepali passports.

“We are told that they took different flights to enter Kuwait. Actually they had flown from Dhaka, but Nepali ‘fake stickers’, which were as good as genuine, were stamped on their passports,” said Nepal’s Ambassador to Kuwait Madhuban Paudel, based on the investigation carried out by local authorities in Kuwait.

Local Al-Anba newspaper today reported that Kuwait’s Airport Security Department has referred all 36 Bangladeshis to the Public Prosecution for entering the country on forged passports issued by the government of Nepal. According to security forces, said the daily, the forgers had earlier been deported from the country.

During interrogation the forgers admitted to buying the passports from an unidentified person in Nepal, each costing the equivalent of Rs 45,000 to Rs 60,000, the daily reported.

Paudel said they were trapped by the fingerprint system installed at the airport.

Published on: 2 May 2012 | The Himalayan Times