• As many as 12 Nepalis paid Rs 100,000 each to acquire forged Machine Readable Passports to leave Malaysia

Kathmandu, January 30

The arrest of 12 Nepali migrant workers in possession of forged Machine Readable Passports from Tribhuvan International Airport recently has made a startling revelation about MRP forgery racket abroad.

TIA Immigration Office had arrested 12 persons in possession of counterfeit MRPs while they were returning home from Malaysia last week. They had acquired the MRPs through forgery rackets run by Nepali citizens abroad.

According to the Department of Immigration, it has been conducting an investigation to identify and bust the racket with the assistance of Nepal Police, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy of Nepal in Malaysia. A testimony of the arrested shows a clear sign that the network of MRP forgery racket has spread to an international level. The authorities said they were digging all possible options so that the perpetrators could be brought to book. An official informed that MoFA had recently communicated to the Embassy of Nepal in Malaysia to inquire how the arrestees were able to obtain the forged MRPs.

In response, the embassy attributed it to the organised forgery racketeers active there. MoFA officials said they were surprised as to why and how the Malaysian immigration had allowed the Nepalis in possession of forged MRPs to fly home without security check.

Quoting the arrestees, sources said they had paid up to Rs 100,000 to acquire each forged MRP. Visa stamped on some MRPs have also been found to be bogus.

Lately, many Nepalis have been returning home after the Malaysian government asked migrants workers overstaying there to leave the country or face legal action.

Embassy of Nepal in Malaysia has already helped hundreds of Nepalis, who were living there illegally or had failed to obtain MRPs, return home by providing them travel documents.