Kathmandu - Five foreign nationals who had been living illegally in hiding at different locations in Kathmandu were arrested by the Armed Police Force (APF) on Monday evening and subsequently handed over to the Department of Immigration for necessary action. The arrests were carried out by a joint team drawn from the APF Intelligence Bureau and Armed Police Force Nepal No. 18 Battalion, according to reports published by Ratopati and Rajdhani Daily.

An Evening Operation Across the Capital

The five were taken into custody during an operation conducted on Monday evening, with the joint APF team moving against individuals who had been residing at various locations in Kathmandu while staying in the country illegally. According to the reports, the detainees had been living in hiding, an indication that they had been attempting to avoid detection by the authorities.

The involvement of the APF Intelligence Bureau points to an intelligence-led operation. The bureau is the wing of the Armed Police Force responsible for gathering and acting on information about unlawful activity, while No. 18 Battalion is one of the force's operational units. Their combined deployment for this action reflects the way the force pairs intelligence gathering with operational manpower when moving against targets inside the capital.

The reports did not disclose the exact localities within Kathmandu where the arrests took place, nor the specific circumstances in which each individual was found. What both accounts make clear is that the operation was carried out in the evening hours and involved multiple locations across the city.

Who Was Detained?

Details about the identities of the group remain limited, but the available reporting indicates that the detainees include Bangladeshi nationals and one Brazilian citizen. Rajdhani Daily's account names Mohammad Kurban Ali among those arrested, listing him with the Bangladeshi detainees. Ratopati's headline, by contrast, described all five detainees as Bangladeshi citizens, leaving a small discrepancy between the two reports over the exact composition of the group.

Key Details at a Glance

  • Five foreign nationals arrested in Kathmandu on Monday evening
  • Operation conducted jointly by the APF Intelligence Bureau and Armed Police Force Nepal No. 18 Battalion
  • Detainees had been living illegally in hiding at various locations in the capital
  • Group includes Bangladeshi nationals, with Mohammad Kurban Ali named in one report, and one Brazilian citizen
  • All five handed over to the Department of Immigration for necessary action

What is not disputed between the two reports is the total number of detainees and the nature of the alleged violation: all five were foreign nationals staying in Nepal without authorization, and all five are now with the immigration authorities. Such differences in early reporting are not unusual in cases involving multiple detainees, and fuller confirmation of the detainees' nationalities is expected to emerge as the immigration department processes the case.

Handover to the Department of Immigration

Following the arrests, the APF team handed the five detainees over to the Department of Immigration, the government body responsible for regulating the entry, stay and departure of foreign nationals in Nepal. The department is the authority that determines the status of individuals found to be residing in the country without valid documentation and decides the action to be taken against them under the country's immigration rules.

The phrase "necessary action," used in the reports, indicates that the detainees have been referred to the immigration authorities for processing under Nepal's immigration framework. Establishing the identity, nationality and length of stay of each detainee is a standard part of such processing before the authorities decide on the appropriate penalty or removal measure. In cases of this nature, foreign nationals found to have remained in Nepal without the required permission can face a range of measures under existing immigration provisions, from financial penalties to deportation. The reports did not indicate what action the department intends to take against the five detainees.

For background, the Armed Police Force, Nepal is a paramilitary law enforcement organization with responsibilities that include internal security, and its units are periodically involved in operations connected to irregular residence and border-related offenses. The detention of foreign nationals found to be living in the country illegally is typically followed by referral to the immigration authorities, as occurred in this instance, with the APF's role concluding once the individuals are formally handed over.

As of the latest reports, the five detainees remain in the custody of the Department of Immigration. Further details about the operation, including the specific neighborhoods where the arrests were made, how long the detainees had been in Nepal and whether any of them will face prosecution or deportation, have not been disclosed in the reports so far.