The arrest of two Syrians, who were planning to head to the UK with fake passports, has exposed a global human smuggling network with Nepal as the transit point. The pair was arrested along with their brokers from a hotel in Thamel on Sunday.
Fauad Ijeh and Fadiya had arrived in Nepal on Friday on fake Slovenian passports issued by brokers German Amrat Husain, and Turkish Jorrick Iradins. They were given a 15-day tourist visa on arrival. All four are currently under the custody of department of immigration.
Ongoing investigations have revealed that office driver Madhu KC and helper Januka Thapa had taken bribe from the Syrians to assist in filling arrival forms and directing their way out. A CCTV footage also confirmed that they helped the Syrians to move money past immigrations. The two have been suspended by the department.
“We took action against the two after it was proved that they were guilty of accepting bribe,” said immigration department chief Govinda Karki.
Director of the immigration department Dhruba Raj Joshi said that investigations had begun and added that the statement from the four would reveal more about the illegal network of human smuggling.