Kathmandu, July 24: Forty-seven Nepali women who were being trafficked abroad through Delhi as a transit hub have been rescued in India and are now being repatriated to Nepal.
According to a senior government official, Indian authorities, acting on information from the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi, intercepted the group at Delhi airport on Wednesday evening. The women were reportedly being sent to Gulf countries on visit visas under a human trafficking scheme.
Instead of flying them directly to Kathmandu, the rescued women will be brought back to Nepal via Bhairahawa and placed in a secure shelter. There, they will receive counseling and other necessary support, the official said.
Traffickers Shift to Delhi Route
This incident highlights a growing trend where traffickers have started using India—particularly Delhi—as a new transit route. The change comes after Nepal intensified immigration checks at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu. In a major move, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently deployed 44 newly appointed immigration officers to disrupt the long-standing collusion between airport staff and unscrupulous travel agents.
Following this crackdown, traffickers began rerouting women through India to avoid the tightened scrutiny at TIA, with Delhi emerging as a preferred stopover before flying the victims abroad.
To further curb illicit activities and prevent the misuse of system failures as a cover, the Department of Immigration has also established an alternative data center since mid-July. This ensures that airport operations continue smoothly even if the main government data infrastructure experiences disruptions.
Among the newly deployed officers at TIA are Anil Chapagain, Taman Sigdel, Dipendra Prasad Acharya, and Roshan Guragain.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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