Parbat Portel

Police have arrested two persons in Jhapa on the charge of selling fake Bhutanese citizenship to non-Bhutanese nationals. The Area Police Office, Kakadbhitta arrested Urgen Wangchuck and Kesang Dorje three days ago with 30 fake copies of Bhutanese citizenship and several copies of Druk National Congress membership card.

Urgen is the son of Gup Khila Wangchuck, one-time confidant of former Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, later forced into exile after being accused of perpetrating activities against the Druk monarchy. Kakadbhitta police held Urgen based on Dorje’s testimony.

However, Urgen has denied the charges levelled against him. He claims that he was framed by his adversaries. Police believe that there is a large network of people running the fake citizenship racket, particularly active in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Manipur and Shillong, in India. The racket has reportedly taken off with the third country resettlement scheme for Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal.

A few months ago, a man identified as Jit Bahadur Subba was arrested from the Capital for trying to place non-Bhutanese nationals into the resettlement programme. Investigators found that Subba had been working closely with the Bhutanese Refugees’ Coordination Unit. Subba was caught when a client, who had unsuccessfully applied for resettlement with fake documents, lodged a complaint against him.

Published on: 10 July 2012 | The Kathmandu Post