KATHMANDU, May 26: Nepal Police Headquarters deployed a team from the Anti-Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau (AHTIB) at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) to curb trafficking under the guise of visit visas. However, the Department of Immigration (DoI) removed the team as early as Ashoj 2080 (mid-September to mid-October 2023).
When the police redeployed the AHTIB team, immigration officials strongly objected and forced its withdrawal. According to sources at Police Headquarters, investigators found that some immigration staff were actively colluding with traffickers to send Nepali women abroad illegally using visit visas. After the revelation, police sent the AHTIB team again to TIA, but DoI officials again protested and blocked their presence.
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Traffickers have been using Oman as a transit point to smuggle Nepali women from TIA to countries including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain. Sources claim immigration officials have been receiving a share of the profits from these illicit operations and distributing them among senior figures at the Home Minister's Secretariat, the Home Secretary, and other top Home Ministry officials.
After the government imposed stricter controls on sending women to Dubai on visit visas, travel agencies shifted their operations to Oman to continue trafficking. Sources further allege that some airlines are complicit in the scheme, with Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways frequently used to transport women abroad illegally.
