After receiving a written request and details of the lost passports from nine manpower companies, the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) has formally reported the case to the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Home, and the departments of Immigration and Foreign Employment.

The NAFEA letter, written 15 days after the incident, elaborates on the loss of 126 passports. Earlier the manpower representatives had claimed that at least 200 passports were missing.

The letter shows that the lost passports include 19 processed by World Wide Manpower Agency, 23 by KL International,  21 by Equator International, 18 by Oxford Management System Pvt Ltd, 14 by Nabil Overseas, 13 by Memorial Overseas Services, 14 by Meridian Overseas, three by AL-Samit and one by Friendship Manpower Consultancy.

The World Wide manpower and KL International have claimed that at least three individuals have reached Saudi Arabia with the passports. Chairman of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies Bal Bahadur Tamang said that his office has sent written appeals to the concerned bodies in order to stop the misuse of the passports.

According to the passport division under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has corresponded with the Department of Immigration and its offices to freeze the passports in order to stop their misuse.

The documents disappeared under mysterious circumstances while they were being brought back to the country from Bangladesh on February 8. Lok Prasad Aryal, the owner of Memorial recruitment agency, had been carrying the passports of nine manpower companies.

Work visas for Saudi Arabia are stamped in Bangladesh in the absence of the Gulf country’s embassy in Nepal. Aryal has claimed that he lost the passports and 60 driving licenses during a Dhaka-Kathmandu flight.

Published on: 24 February 2013 | The Kathmandu Post