Roshan Sedhai

With an increase in the number of land mafias, illegal migrant workers, and students seeking to study abroad, cases of document forgery have rocketed in the Capital of late, authorities say. Police say there has been an unparallel rise in the use of forged documents by land, foreign employment and overseas education racketeers.

In the last two and a half years, police made 148 arrests in document forgery cases. In the past one and a half years, 38 people were arrested for citizenship and passport forgery. Cases of fraud, which include some types of forgery, recorded in the period number 190.

The Department of Immigration (DoI) alone arrested 143 people with fake passports in the past two years.

Police say the number of arrests made so far is only the tip of the iceberg and that it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of forgeries taking place each year. Cases come to light only when a complaint is registered or authorities detect it.

DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh, spokesperson for the Hanumandhoka Police Range, said such cases are apparently very high in the Capital.

“There are some forgery and fraudster gangs in the Capital. These groups become active sometimes and remain passive at others so it’s hard to trace them,” he said.

According to him, land fraud is taking a bigger and more organised shape due to fat sums of money that are attached. “We had some success this year in cracking some of their codes. But since they are elusive, it’s hard to track them.”

Ganesh Bahadur Adhikari, an officer at the DOI, said passport forgery cases have declined after the introduction of the Machine Readable Passport.

“Forgery thrived with handwritten passports. In most of cases, criminals were found to be replacing original photos with the recipients’ or using the passport of another person whose face matches theirs,” said Adhikari, who works in the legal section of the DoI.

Some reports show that female migrant workers are among the largest users of forged documents, especially due to the law barring them from travelling to some countries. But some men with ill intention have also used such passports.

Anju went to Kuwait about one year ago. Her agent literally sold this 18-year-old to a Kuwaiti by using a fake passport. The Nepali Embassy in Kuwait rescued her later. Informed sources say the criteria set by the embassy for foreign study aspirants left no choice for students but to get forged documents.

“All Nepalis do not have an annual income of US$ 15,000. The embassies know this well. For those who are passionate about studying abroad but poor, resorting to document forgery was the only way out,” said a student on condition of anonymity. The student said some of his friends had got visas even on submitting forged documents.

Published on: 29 January 2012 | The Kathmandu Post