KATHMANDU: Police have arrested two key defendants in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam who escaped from Nakkhu Prison during the September 9 jailbreak triggered by the Gen-Z uprising.

According to AIG Dan Bahadur Karki, chief of the Kathmandu Valley Police Office, Sanu Bhandari and Keshav Dulal were apprehended on Tuesday in Dhapakhel, Lalitpur. Both men had been on the run since their dramatic escape earlier this month.

Authorities say dozens of inmates who fled on September 9 are now being recaptured, while some have voluntarily returned to prison. Still, nearly 8,000 convicts remain unaccounted for nationwide, prompting police to launch a special operation to track them down.

The mass escape has added fresh urgency to Nepal’s ongoing political turmoil, exposing cracks in the country’s prison system just as the new government, born out of the Gen-Z movement, seeks to establish order.