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Slack law boosting passport fraudsters
KATHMANDU, AUG 13 -
It took the investigators a month to track down an organised fake passport racket and arrest its five members. The other members of the racket were arrested in the first week of August.
In a sting operation, police constable Deepa Thapa of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), pretending as a foreign job aspirant, paid Rs. 25,000 to a member of the racket for a passport. The arrest of fraudsters was eventually made possible after they issued a fake passport bearing the name of one unidentified girl Parbati Thapa. But the Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday decided to let the arrestees — Hari Bahadur Subedi, Sete Lal Poudel, Nir Bahadur Ratan, Nisha Dhital and Kiran Kathayat — walk scot-free. They were arrested with 30 fake passports from Gangabu-based Marshyangdi Travels and Tours.
A senior police officer at MPCD expressed frustration that the court has released the culprits citing legal loopholes.
As per the existing laws, the court can slap a one-year jail term or a fine of Rs. 9000 on passport fraudsters. On Wednesday, the court released three of them without bail, while two others paid Rs. 7000 each as fine.
It is a vicious cycle. According to police, most of the fraudsters return to crime once they get out of prison. “Our efforts to curb the crime go in vain,” he said.
Passport forgery made the headlines on last January after a non-gazetted officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bachchuram KC, was arrested for procuring fake Nepali passports for foreigners.
KC had admitted to the prosecutors that he procured at least 150 Nepali passports for foreigners. Again, the court released him on bail. Senior police officers say that the government should amend the existing laws to curb passport forgery. Investigative officials claim some recruitment agencies that pretend to hire blue-collar workers for manual labour in the Gulf and people who keep others’ passports for various purposes are part of the racket.
Police say that every year hundreds of Indians and Nepalis of Indian origin head abroad, particularly to the Middle East using fake Nepali passports. A senior police officer says that a section of employees at the immigration department, security personnel and aviation staff are involved in the passport racket.
Posted on: 2010-08-14 08:28
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