More than 400 Indian citizens have been successful in going to Malaysia on Nepali passports. Since Indians are not permitted to go to Malaysia as foreign labourers, foreign employment companies and mafia groups are sending them abroad on Nepali passports, says Superintendent Prabal Sumshere JB Rana, who is responsible for security at Tribhuvan Airport. As it is not possible for Indian citizens to leave Nepal on Nepali passports, they fly out from India after replacing the original photos on Nepali passports with their own. The Malaysian government has stopped employing labourers from India in recent years, as it is not satisfied with their performance.

According to the Crime Investigation Department, more than 400 Indian citizens have flown to Malaysia on Nepali passports in the past year. This was revealed after the Delhi Immigration Police arrested an Indian citizen with a Nepali passport who was bound for Malaysia.

The Nepal Joint Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs' Association has formed a three-member committee to investigate the matter. Says Balram Giri, coordinator of the committee, "We've found that the photos on passports stolen from manpower agencies are switched so to send non-Nepali citizens abroad." Indian police have also arrested Dil Bahadur Rai and Khem Bahadur Painja, two men involved in the passport scam, and handed them over to Nepal, say security officials. The Nepal Police has also started an investigation, and recently raided three manpower agencies-Pioneer Overseas, based in Baluwatar, New Gorkhas Overseas, and Heet Overseas in Sukhetaar.

The immigration department and the labour department are pointing fingers at each other over the scam. Lalit Bahadur Thapa, director general of the Labour and Employment Department says that if Indian citizens have managed to go to Malaysia on Nepali passports, that is due to the carelessness of the immigration department.
Anand Raj Pokhrel, director general of the Immigration Department, maintains that it is the responsibility of the Labour Department to follow-up with the country in which workers have been employed. "It's not possible for them to fly from Nepal. We wouldn't know about people flying from India," he said.