Police have arrested a man allegedly involved in trafficking four Nepali women to Kuwait from Kathmandu on Monday.

Police deployed by the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau nabbed Prakash Dhimal, from Chabahil, Kathmandu, after one of the victims who was rescued by the Nepali Embassy in Kuwait filed a complaint at the bureau.

The victim, who is in her late 20s, had lodged a complaint with the bureau on January 9, seeking possible action against the culprit based on the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2064 (2007), as he was involved in trafficking three other women in the same place.

Dhimal, 41, a manpower agent, had taken four women to Kuwait via Qatar in a ‘free-ticket and free-visa’ deal, promising them better salary and perks on April 25 last year from the Tribhuvan International Airport.

“The agent himself had made the passport and necessary documents and arranged for travel fare, accommodation and food on his own,” said Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Malla, spokesperson for the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau.

However, after landing in Kuwait, they were sold to an agent with 900 Kuwaiti Dinar, equivalent to Rs383,260, for two years to private households where they were made to work continuously for 20 hours without payment.

The victim who returned to Nepal fell sick during her stay due to overwork, and contacted her father to help. When the victim’s father contacted Dhimal to return her daughter to Nepal as she was sick, the agent demanded Rs500,000.

Later, the victim who lodged a police complaint managed to flee the hospital with the help of the Nepali Embassy in Kuwait on September 30 last year. She was admitted to the hospital after falling sick.

“As she had contacted the bureau earlier, we had coordinated with the Nepali embassy in Kuwait to rescue her,” spokesperson Malla said.

The bureau stated that the same agent has sold 10 other women in Kuwait.

“We are investigating the issue,” Malla said.

Last year, on December 2, the anti-human trafficking bureau had nabbed two Chinese agents for trafficking three women in a call centre in Laos where they were made to work with fake identities on social media in order to dupe rich English-speaking people.

Published on: 27 January 2023 | The Kathmandu Post