Birendra Vick of Jajarkot and Thomas Wickram Shah (Resham) of Rukum, Athabiscot met in Kathmandu. Gopal Singh, who lives in America, contacted Resham. The day was 13 August 2079. Resham promised to deliver the silk to America within two months.

He added, "We have sent more than 150 people to America via the lower route, rest assured." We will take responsibility.'

Resham also told the route to America. You have to reach Azerbaijan via Dubai. From there it is taken to Turkey (Turkiye) - Spain - Brazil. From Brazil it reaches Mexico through Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Panama. Then you have to enter America on foot. You can travel by car, horse, boat or on foot.'

'How much money will it take to get to America?', asked 23-year-old Birendra, who has just completed Plus Two. It takes more money after reaching every country," said Resham. Less than a month after meeting Resham, Birendra handed over Rs 15 lakh in cash. As soon as the money was paid, Resham collected the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visit visa and ticket.

On 10 October 2079, Birendra flew from Kathmandu to Dubai. 32-year-old Kailash Adhikari of Mangalpur-3, Chitwan came to pick him up at the airport. He kept Birendra in a hostel for 7 days and flew him to Azerbaijan. He was supposed to stay in Azerbaijan only for a few days. It was not said which country to go from there. Azerbaijan's visit visa was only valid for one month. Visa expired while waiting to go to another country.

to send to America   32-year-old Kailash Adhikari from Chitwan, who works as a broker in Dubai.

On the 18th day of the 'overstay', he was caught by the local police along with 11 other Nepalis. Immigration decided to detain and deport you for 7 days, 'You are not allowed to stay here. We can't even go to another country. Now they will go directly to Nepal.'

Azerbaijan returned some of them to Nepal on November 7. The ticket was to Kathmandu via Dubai transit. That ticket was sent by Resham and Kailash. After passing through Azerbaijan's immigration, Birendra received a message saying, 'You are not going to Nepal. After reaching Dubai, I will miss the flight to Nepal. Stay in there. We will send you to Ethiopia.'

After arriving at Dubai airport, Birendra did not board the ship to Nepal. The airline pretended not to know even when its name was called dozens of times. Instead, he went to the toilet and sat down. We were sitting in the terminal of Dubai airport. There was no money for food. We used to drink water. Sometimes the Nepalese would give food,' said Birendra.

There was not much checking at the Dubai airport terminal. They stayed in one zone (final boarding check area) for three hours. Once boarding started there, he would mix with the passengers in the other zone. We used to change our jackets after going to the toilet to find out. We used to wear masks on our faces,' said Virendra. After three days, the Ethiopian visa and ticket arrived.

Virender reached Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on 11th December via Dubai transit. He was taken to an apartment hotel. He was shocked at the hotel. There were 52 Nepalis sent by 6 types of brokers. Virendra joined that group. No one knew who was in charge in Ethiopia. We didn't meet face to face, we used to talk through WhatsApp.

There wasn't a day without resham from Kathmandu. "Whoever gives more money, he is the only one who will be on the team that will go from Brazil to America via the lower route. I don't know if those who delay will be able to go later or not,' Resham would receive a message, 'If you do not accept what I said and return to Nepal, I will not be able to return the money.'

Resham had sent the account number in Century Bank in the name of Pawan Basnet. Birendra deposited 10 lakh rupees in Pawan's account through his sister Ramita. This was his second installment. After collecting the money, I got my visa and ticket to Brazil on December 16. When I got to the airport to fly to Brazil, I was stopped by immigration. Returning to the hotel, he requested Resham to make a ticket back to Nepal. Resham muttered that the setting was broken. There started getting 'voice messages' saying that other agents were also trying.

Thomas Vikram Shah of Rukum who collects youths from Nepal to send to America.

'If it doesn't happen today, it will happen tomorrow, if it doesn't happen tomorrow, it will happen the day after tomorrow', he started spending his days based on that assurance. Resham asked for more money saying that there was no money and the work was stopped. He sent the account number of NIC Asia in the name of Umesh Kishore Baral. Birendra deposited 360,000 rupees in Umeshkishore's account through sister Ramita. Then on March 21, Resham sent 6 people including him to Kyrgyzstan saying that there was no arrangement to send silk from Ethiopia to Brazil. A Pakistani agent came to pick them up at the airport.

I was told to stay in Kyrgyzstan only for 7 days but I had to stay for 6 months. New friends were met in every place, old friends were separated. It depended on how much money was paid, whose turn it was, who was in whose team.

Birendra was kept in an apartment in the capital Bishkek. Resham asked for five lakh rupees to proceed again. I can't give more money. I will return to Nepal. Instead, give me a ticket to return to Nepal," Birendra persuaded. 'This time you will go anyway. Guaranteed,' Resham assured, 'If I can't send, I will return this money to you.'

Resham sent Kailash Adhikari's National Commercial Bank account number. Birendra deposited five lakh rupees through sister Ramita. I got a ticket to India after transiting Istanbul. However, it was assured to go to Brazil through Spain, Peru, Bolivia from the Istanbul airport terminal. 

Four Nepalis along with Birendra reached Istanbul Airport on 1 August 2080. He did not board the flight to India from there. There were 40 other Nepalis like them inside the terminal. The plan was to hide inside the terminal until the visa for the other country arrived. However, he was checked by the immigration police. 5 people including him were detained for 7 days and sent directly to Nepal by immigration.

Birendra, who was walking with the dream of reaching America within two months, got lost in the middle of the road and returned to Kathmandu in 11 months. During that time, 33 lakh rupees had been handed over to the broker. In the meantime, he also had his own expenses. After arriving in Kathmandu, Birendra stayed at the Kohalpur guest house. Resham himself came there and stayed together for two weeks. "If you can't send it to America, give the money back," Virender repeatedly said to Resham.

Instead of returning the money, Resham assured the opposite, 'This time I will send it anyway. Instead, I will not ask for more money from you. I will take you to Brazil within a week anyway. Believing in silk, Birendra flew to Dubai again on 22 August 2080. After staying in Dubai for 20 days, he reached Uzbekistan with another Nepali. They were taken to a hotel in the capital, Tashkent, where 40 Nepalis were found. Some of them had been trying to go to America for 5 years.

The day before the one-month visa expired, the broker took them to Istanbul, Turkey. From there, they were unable to get tickets and visas to Brazil, and they came under immigration control. Detained for 18 days. After Turkie left, Kailash sent a ticket to Nepal through Dubai transit. After landing in Dubai, he did not fly to Nepal, he left the airport on Resham's advice. "Kailash Adhikari and Nisha Thapa took the passport saying that they will get a visa for Brazil," he said.

It was said to wait two weeks to apply for a Brazilian visa in Dubai. But had to stay for three months. Nisha returned the passport saying that the visa could not be applied. From Dubai again sent to Kyrgyzstan for 5 days. Resham said that he would take Virendra from Kyrgyzstan to Turkey, Spain, Peru, Brazil. However, after 5 months, Resham said, "This route is closed, now you will go to Sri Lanka, a Malaysian passport will be made there and I will take you to Brazil via Qatar". Following Resham's advice, Birendra reached Colombo on 19th May 2081.

After staying in Sri Lanka for 30 days, Resham, Kailash and Nisha lost contact. The hotel owner kept him hostage for two weeks. He was determined not to leave without paying. Birendra went to Dubai to meet Kailash after paying for the hotel himself, but he was not found. Birendra, who was duped by Resham's group, Ganesh Bahadur Pun of Jajarkot, Birendra Bahadur Kunwar of Bajhang, Bhup Bahadur Dangi of Dang, Sankalp Malla and Shivraj Singh of Jajarkot joined Dubai. Ganesh Bahadur had paid 32 lakh, Birendra Bahadur 38 lakh 40 thousand, Bhup Bahadur 30 lakh, Sankalp 5 lakh and Shivraj 33 lakh 50 thousand to the broker in the hope of going to America.

When Nisha started asking for money, she called to meet her. Virendra, Ganesh Bahadur, Bhup Bahadur and Shivraj went. After reaching there, we started asking for money. Nisha walked outside wearing a chukul. After some time, the police came to the place where we were staying," Birendra said, "a complaint was filed against us for holding the body hostage. The police arrested us and took us away. We did not go to the checkpoint in Nepal and kept them in handcuffs.