BASANT SHARMA

An Iranian national, who had come here with a Belgian passport on October 18, took off for Hong Kong via Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA), but Hong Kong refused him entry and sent him back to Nepal.

At TIA, he showed his Iranian Passport, because the fake Belgian passport had been seized in Hong Kong. He was arrested by immigration officials at TIA.

In yet another case, a person from Papua New Guinea with a fake American Passport was arrested at TIA on the same day. He wanted to go to the US via New Delhi.

Both of them are now in the custody of The Department of Immigration. DoI has been investigating their cases and planning to charge them under fake passport cases.

These recent incidents show that there has been no let-up in foreigners, who use Nepal to sneak into other countries. They have been using Nepal as a transit point for entering other countries illegally because the immigration at TIA has not been up to the mark.

“We do not have advanced equipment and our officials need training too,” said an official at the legal section of DoI. He admitted that many officials at DoI are not up to date regarding advanced security checking.

According to Immigration officials, Africans and people from Iran have been using the Nepali airport in large numbers to go abroad via New Delhi.

“Most of those arrested were charged with possessing forged passports and fake visas,” said Director General of Department of Immigration, Sharad Chandra Paudel. According to Poudel, some of them have been found using others’ passports after changing the photo and personal details, namely date of birth. Some were also found to have changed their own photo in the passport, he added.

As Nepal provides visa on arrival at the entry point, foreigners find it easy to use entry points in Nepal, said Paudel. “It is easier to enter Nepal as we provide visa on arrival at each entry point of the country,” Paudel said, adding, “Viewing the misuse of such provision, we must think whether or not this facility is correct.”

There are eight entry points that include Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu; Kodari, Sindhupalchowk; Kakarvitta, Jhapa; Birgunj, Parsa; Belahia, Bhairahawa; Jamunaha, Nepalgunj; Mohana, Dhangadhi; and Gaddachauki, Mahendranagar; and nine exit points with the additional one in Pokhara of Kaski.

People from Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan do not get visa on arrival at the immigration entry points.

The DoI has restricted them because of the countries’ background, officials said. “People from conflict-affected countries come here with the hope of getting a chance to enter European countries as a refugee,” said Rameshwar Khatri, Immigration Officer at DoI.

Some foreign nationals were also found to possess fake Nepali passports. Such people intend to go overseas for foreign employment. Among them are a large number of people from Bangladesh and girls from Darjeeling, India, officials said.

As there is a high demand for Nepali workers overseas, they want to enter those countries as Nepali citizens.

Published on: 28 October 2013 | The Himalayan Times