Toran Pun Magar (name changed) of the Nepal Army realized he was duped by people whom he describes as ´human traffickers´ that persuaded him to resign from his job for lucrative employment in Nigeria, only after he was stranded in India for more than three months. 

The 30-year-old´s stay in the Indian capital is a nightmare he wants to forget. The agents had left him there with no travel documents and no money. However, he did manage to return home and knock on the doors of the police to get his money back.  Acting on complaints from Magar and many others like him, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has now busted the ´Nigerian´ racket and arrested its two kingpins. The two have been identified as Rabin Gurung, 33, of Kushada-2 in Dailekh district and retired army man Shree Bahadur Gurung, 40, of Murali Bhanjyang-9, Dhading.

It has been disclosed that agents from Nepal would line up people serving in or retired from the security forces and ´sell´ them to companies in Nigeria through human traffickers. Police have found over 40 such security personnel who were duped by the racket. Over Rs 20 million was also swindled from them. Each of them had paid up to Rs 700,000 to the agents and sub-agents. 

“Security personnel have been lured with prospects of attractive salaries of USD 1,500 to 1,800 per month,” DIG Hemant Malla, chief of CIB, said.  A CIB team busted the racket and rounded them up on November 22 for alleged involvement in swindling. They were handed over to the Department of Foreign Employment for further investigation and are now under judicial custody. Once the department completes its investigation, they will be kept under detention on the charge of human trafficking, said DSP Kiran Bajracharya of CIB. 

Others involved in the racket have been identified as Narayan Shrestha of Chitwan district, Suman Gurung who is the younger brother of Rabin Gurung, and Angnima Sherpa of Bhojpur. One victim of the racket informed that another retired NA man, Ghan Bahadur Ghale was behind the racket although he has pretended to be innocent. Shree Bahadur, Shrestha and Sherpa were responsible for finding the job seekers and gathering them in Delhi. The two Gurung brothers would then take them to Nigeria. 

According to police investigations, about 15 people were taken to Nigeria but were then left there to fend for themselves. They returned home only with the support of various agencies. Prem Bahadur Gurung of Chitwan, Nawaraj Pandey of Parsa, Rajib Thapa of Gorkha and Subba Gurung of Dhading were victimized by the same racket about five months ago. They were rescued by non-resident Nepalis in Nigeria. 

“We have received many complaints against the accused and we request other victims to report to CIB to help its investigations,” DSP Bajracharya said. According to police, Rabin Gurung has been identified as a major agent in Nepal, with Shree Bahadur Gurung next in importance. The victims have claimed that they paid Rs 400,000 to Rs 700,000 each before they were taken to India. 

“The agents said they would send us to Nigeria via Nairobi, Kenya on tourist visas, that can be procured easily for Indian Rs 10,000,” said Krishna Basnet of Nuwakot, who had taken voluntary retirement from NA. "They would hand us over to Ikey Solutions, a company in Nigeria that supplies security guards," Basnet said, adding that other agents in Nigeria would buy and sell us on a commission basis. Nepali agents would get paid handsomely once the human resources were delivered illegally, according to the victims.

The international agents in the racket have been identified as Eriksen Turgeir, Wolf Blaajad and Erik Eiresson, all based in Nigeria.  With the arrest of the two racketeers, police hope to prevent other such job aspirants from being sent to Nigeria, but those already duped have slim hopes of seeing their money again.

Published on: 23 December 2014 | Republica