The Department of Immigration has placed around 13,000 individuals accused of various crimes on its blacklist. The list includes those who fled abroad after committing crimes in Nepal, foreign nationals who entered Nepal after committing offences in other jurisdictions, and individuals currently serving sentences or awaiting trial.

The registry comprises around 8,000 Nepali nationals and 5,000 foreign nationals, all of whom are barred from crossing immigration checkpoints at international airports and land border points.

Notably, 612 inmates who escaped from various prisons and police custody cells after they were breached during the Gen Z protest on September 9, 2025, have been added to the list. Among the escapees, nearly 500 are Indian nationals, and more than 100 are third-country nationals who remain at large.

Officials said surveillance was intensified last September at Tribhuvan International Airport, Pokhara Regional International Airport, and Gautam Buddha Regional International Airport due to the high risk of these individuals fleeing by air.

Monitoring also continues at land-based border administration offices, although the government faces major challenges in repatriating those who have already crossed the border.

Tikaram Dhakal, spokesperson of the department, said the heightened surveillance is a direct response to the mass escape. “The goal is to prevent criminals from fleeing from one country to another and to control the risk of the accused evading court verdicts, orders, and decisions made by investigative bodies,” he said.

Dhakal noted that although the current figure stands at around 13,000, the number fluctuates daily as names are added or removed. Following the September 9 breaches, several countries, including the UAE, temporarily tightened visa requirements for Nepali citizens due to the flight risk posed by the escapees.

The blacklist also serves as a barrier for those deported with re-entry bans. In the current fiscal year alone, 501 foreign nationals from countries including the US, China, Canada, and the UK have been expelled and banned from re-entering Nepal for three to ten years.

In the first seven months of fiscal year 2025-26, more than 450 foreigners have been deported.

Kedar Neupane, a former secretary and former director general of the Department of Immigration, said that while the system exists to catch fugitives, weak inter-agency coordination often allows blacklisted individuals to exploit loopholes. He emphasised the need to strengthen the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) to monitor individuals seeking shelter in Nepal after committing crimes abroad. The APIS has been feeding data into the Foreign Nationals Management Information System (FNMIS) since January 1, 2026.

High-profile fugitives and evasion tactics

The difficulty of tracking such individuals is highlighted by several high-profile cases currently on the list.

In November 2019, three Chinese nationals entered Nepal on tourist visas. Two weeks later, the DoI discovered through the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they were notorious criminals involved in wildlife and gold smuggling. Despite being placed on the blacklist and being subject to an INTERPOL Red Notice, their whereabouts remain unknown.

Similarly, Pawan Kumar Karki, convicted of embezzling nearly Rs1.5 billion from Capital Merchant Banking and Finance Limited, has remained on the blacklist for 15 years. He fled to the United States via India and Doha. Despite an INTERPOL Red Notice, the US has declined to repatriate him as he reportedly acquired American citizenship.

The cooperative sector also features prominently on the list, most notably with Gitendra Babu Rai, the fugitive accused of embezzling billions through Gorkha Media Network. Rai faces charges related to cooperative fraud, organised crime and money laundering in five different courts.

While Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane is also involved in related court proceedings and is currently out on bail, Rai remains at large and is suspected to be in Malaysia.

Likewise, Jyoti Gurung—wife of Nepali Congress leader Dhanraj Gurung, though the couple are now reported to have divorced—fled the country last year after being implicated in the Miteri Cooperative embezzlement case and is believed to be in the United States.

Other names on the list include Sisham Malla, former managing director of Himalaya Finance Limited, and Rabichandra Khanal, former manager of Kailash Bikas Bank’s Lamachaur branch, along with notorious wildlife traffickers Nitup Lama and Pema Sherpa.

Last October, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ urged foreign embassies to help locate their nationals who escaped during the September 9 incidents, but nearly 600 foreign escapees remain untraced.

Former secretary Neupane said that without stronger diplomatic initiatives and integrated criminal record systems, such fugitives would continue to evade the reach of the law.