KATHMANDU:
The Nepal Mountaineering Association has cancelled a summit certificate of a Jordan climber who provided a fake photo of the Mera peak summit.
A secretariat meeting of the NMA has cancelled a summit certificate which was awarded to Abdul Rahim Al-Arjan, said Mohan Lamsal, General Secretary at NMA.
Al-Arjan duped NMA by providing a fake photo of the Mera Peak summit claiming that he stood atop the 6,470-metre peak on 26 October 2023.
"Following a thorough investigation by a NMA committee, it was found that Al-Arjan never reached above the high camp on Mera Peak," Lamsal said, adding that the secretariat meeting then decided to annul his certificate.
Read More: Jordan climber dupes NMA, obtains Mera peak summit certificate with fake photo
Expedition handling agency - Fourteen Summits Pvt. Ltd – had also admitted that Al-Arjan, a climber from Jordan, had fabricated a summit photo without reaching the summit of Mera peak, according to Lamsal. Al-Arjan was a client of Adventure Magic Treks but shared a climbing permit with Fourteen Summits.
Read Also: Agency asks NMA to cancel Al-Arjan's Mera Peak certificate
The summit photo submitted by Al-Arjan alongside the certificate to the NMA was fabricated, featuring the ascent of different climbers than the certificate holder's actual ascent. The expedition handling agencies have also been warned for their negligence, Lamsal said.
