The duo, who en route to France via the Middle East, were sent back to Nepal from Dubai after officials refused them permission to board a France-bound plane.The DoI informed that the authorities in Dubai returned them back to Nepal for having fake French visas stamped in their Nepali Machine Readable Passports (MRPs). However, the DoI said it is still investigating to confirm if their visas are fake or not.
Director at the DoI, Tek Raj Gyawali, told Republica, "We have emailed the French embassy to confirm about the legality of their visas. We can't just say they possessed fake visas without ascertaining it from the embassy," he said.
During preliminary investigation, the two have recorded statements that their agents obtained the visas for them upon paying one million rupees each.
"We don't know anything about the status of visa, our agents did everything for us," read the statements given by them at the DoI. "We just gave the agent our photos, passport and money to go to work in France."
Their statements suggested that they were unaware about the authenticity of the visas. They are eager to find out about the huge chunk of money they paid to the agents at the earliest.
They were brought to the DoI on December 14 and detained there for further investigation. Their passport history shows that they have not travelled to any other country before.
Director Gyawali added that they looked like they worked as security guards and were trying to go to work in France in the same field.
According to the immigration law, they can be sentenced to jail for up to five years or a penalty of Rs 50,000 or both for the violation.
The officials at the DoI claim that this is the first case where Nepalis are reported for using fake French visa. In question to how they cleared immigration of Nepal if their visas were fake, Director General of the DoI Kedar Neupane clarified, "We are carrying out in-depth investigation of this case and trying to find out if the airport officials are involved in this."
Neupane further said the machines at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) can detect fake passports but not fake visas.
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