Illegal route from Nepal to Gulf via Patna & Mum: 10 arrested at city airport
Mumbai: Ten Nepal nationals were arrested at the city airport in the past week, throwing up a pattern in immigration that begins with an illegal border crossing in Bihar. All 10 were trying to fly to Gulf countries on forged papers.
Police said they allegedly paid Rs 2.5 lakh each to agents back home. Two of them had got Indian passports using fake documents.
Six were intercepted by immigration officials while attempting to travel to Doha and the UAE on May 26, claiming they had been hired for jobs there. Days later, four more, who claimed to be electrical assistants and labourers, were arrested before they could board a flight to UAE. Immigration officer Radha More said the men said their agent in Nepal helped them avoid legal border crossing points and that they took a flight to Mumbai from Patna.
Foreign employment permits issued by the Nepali embassy in Delhi were forged for the racket.
Sahar police probe have found 10 Nepali nationals seeking passage to the Gulf countries had reached the city by using seven porous districts along the 601km Bihar-Nepal border to illegally gain entry into India.
An officer said police are tracking down the Nepali agents and their Indian collaborators and are ascertaining why these men chose to enter India illegally from Bihar's West Champaran, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Supaul, Araria and Kishanganj districts when there are legal entry points for Nepali nationals.
On May 26, six Nepali nationals—Ramekbal Mahto Dhanuk (27), Mohammad Samim Alam (23), Raki Yadav (20), Mohammad Haroon Manihar (37), Mobin Musalman (32), and Jogindra Yadav (36)—were intercepted by immigration officials while attempting to travel to Doha and the UAE, claiming they had been hired for jobs there. Three days later, four more—Jogindra Bishnu Das (24), Anish Kumar Sije Das (19), Sindhu Kumar Upendra Jha (22) and Jhagaru Ram Sobhait Das (38), who claimed to be electrical assistants and labourers—were arrested before they could board a flight to the UAE.
Immigration officer Radha More explained that any Nepali national who wishes to travel abroad for work from India has to get an NOC from the Nepal embassy in Delhi. "The four caught on May 29 produced their passports with the NOC, but a communication with the embassy revealed that its system had no data on them."
Police said the first tranche of illegal Nepali nationals was caught after immigration officer Ajay Mhatre detected irregularities in Dhanuk's documentation. "When his colleagues encountered the other five Nepali citizens travelling to the UAE and Doha, they alerted wing in-charge Ranjan Kumar. The Nepal embassy in Delhi confirmed they hadn't issued any NOC or foreign employment permit to these individuals," said an officer.
Police are looking into two alleged Nepali agents, Shakir Yadav and Ahmed, for their involvement in procurement of false documentation and whether they had assisted others in a similar manner in the past.
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