A total of 122 passengers bound for Gulf countries through Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Wednesday, have been denied permission to travel after their PCR test report were suspected to be fake.
The reports issued by the Sinamangal-based Sooriya Healthcare Pvt Ltd and Merit Multicare Centres were suspected to be fraudulent.
Civil Aviation Authority Nepal’s spokesperson Rajkumar Chettri told RSS that authorities made 122 passengers leave the flight that was about to take off.
54 passengers of Air Arabia bound for Sharjah (UAE), 32 passengers of Salam Air bound for Oman and 36 passengers of Jazeera Airways bound for Kuwait have been from the aircraft.
On Tuesday, eight staffers working in those healthcare centres were arrested on the charges of producing fake PCR test reports that claimed that the report cardholders had tested negative in their PCR test against Covid-19. Those staffers were also alleged to have fleeced Rs 9,000 per person to produce fake reports.
Chettri shared that no decisions were made by the concerned airline companies about managing the passengers for a re-flight.
Similarly, another 50 passengers were also sent back from the TIA today for not meeting criteria determined to allow the passengers to travel abroad in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19, according to SSP Rajeshnath Bastola.
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