The Office of the Attorney General forwarded a case of illegal transportation of immigrants to the country to the Thimphu District Court on Friday. OAG charge-sheeted two Bhutanese taxi drivers and an Indian individual for helping two Indian workers enter the country.
According to the charge sheet, the taxi drivers transported two Indian nationals from Phuentshogling without valid immigration documents in June this year to Thimphu. A taxi dropped the illegal workers till the halfway, and from there they were taken in another taxi. The investigation report states that the accused had managed to hide those non-nationals from the check posts and immigration inspections on the way. They were to be paid Nu 15,000 by the accused Indian man, who works as a supervisor at a private construction in Hongtsho, Thimphu.
However, following a tip-off, all five men were arrested from Hongtsho. The two foreign workers were deported to their country last month.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney General is charging the two taxi drivers for intentionally and knowingly helping the two non-nationals enter the country without valid immigration documents. They are charged with a fourth-degree felony, which has a minimum prison term of three years to the maximum of five years as per the Immigration Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan 2007.
Likewise, the supervisor is being charged for solicitation. The OAG has asked the court to sentence him half of the Taxi drivers’ actual sentence as per the Immigration Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan 2007 and the Penal Code of Bhutan.
