Nepal charges 32 over fake helicopter rescues in US$19.7m trekking insurance scam

KATHMANDU, April 2 — Nepal has charged 32 people over a multi-million-dollar insurance scam involving fake helicopter rescues of trekkers, police said today, a long-running racket that has cast a shadow over the country’s vital tourism industry.

The Himalayan nation attracts thousands of trekkers each year, many walking remote high-altitude trails where emergency airlifts are common and often costly.

But investigators say some operators have for years orchestrated fraudulent evacuations to cash in on insurance payouts.

Police say they uncovered cases in which multiple insurance claims were filed for a single rescue, chartered flights were falsely billed as emergency evacuations and private hospitals issued inflated or fabricated medical invoices.

“Court proceedings are underway. Charges have been filed against 32 people. So far 10 people have been arrested,” Manoj Kumar KC, chief of Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), told AFP.

The companies involved allegedly defrauded insurers of at least US$19.69 million, with cuts distributed at different levels, the police had said in January, when the first arrests were made.

Those named in the chargesheet, seen by AFP, include people in trekking agencies, helicopter firms and hospitals allegedly linked to the racket.

Investigators said guides sometimes sickened travellers—including by mixing baking soda into their food or serving contaminated meals—to justify helicopter evacuations.

Trekkers were also pressured into airlifts even for minor illnesses, according to the chargesheet.

Six suspects were first detained in January.

The arrests came after nearly three months of inquiries by the CIB that they said uncovered a trail of forged documents and manipulated records.

A 2018 government probe identified 15 companies involved in similar scams, but no action was taken, allowing them to persist despite new guidelines introduced after warnings from insurers. — AFP