Nepal journey executives arrested for scamming thousands and thousands with pretend mountain rescues

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Authorities in Nepal have arrested six journey and mountain rescue executives accused of conducting pretend rescues on the Himalayan nation’s excessive mountains to rip-off thousands and thousands of {dollars} from worldwide insurance coverage corporations, officers stated Monday.

Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested six individuals from three completely different journey and mountain rescue operators final week, accusing them of submitting pretend claims for near $20 million between 2022 and 2025 and receiving the cash of their accounts. All six are Nepali nationals.

Bureau spokesperson Shiva Kumar Shrestha stated Monday that authorities are nonetheless investigating.

Fake paperwork together with passenger and cargo manifests for helicopter rescue flights, medical invoices and hospital studies have been despatched to insurance coverage corporations, the bureau stated.

The company stated that one of many corporations that 171 of the 1,248 rescues claimed by one firm have been pretend, resulting in unjustified payouts of greater than $10 million. Another is accused of fabricating 75 of 471 claimed rescues and fraudulently claiming $8 million, whereas the final one is accused of constructing 71 pretend claims with payouts totaling over $1 million.

Thousands of climbers come to Nepal yearly to scale the best Himalayan mountains, whereas tens of 1000’s extra additionally come to hike the mountain trails main as much as the bottom camps of those excessive peaks.

Every 12 months a number of climbers die and hundreds are rescued affected by excessive exhaustion, altitude illness or different medical points.

There are few roads and restricted medical amenities within the mountains, so rescuers are sometimes pressured to constitution costly helicopter flights to move sufferers to hospitals in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

High altitude climbers are required to indicate proof of insurance coverage overlaying helicopter rescue earlier than they’re issued climbing permits.