Nepal Police's Central Investigation Bureau found that some Mount Everest guides were poisoning climbers as part of a mega $20 million insurance fraud scam.
32 guides were charged in connection with the scheme, which impacted 4782 international climbers between 2022 and 2025, on March 12.
The scam was first uncovered in the year 2018, but the cops recently reopened the investigation, as per local media outlets.
The guides would first produce an emergency for tourists arising from foreign nations like the UK or Australia, and then make it more difficult for insurance firms to verify the incidents in the Kathmandu area of Nepal.
Reaching great heights of 10,000 feet, those who would climb the peaks are often most liable to get altitude sickness. But authorities from Nepal mentioned how the guides would intentionally put baking powder into the food of climbers to copy the common symptoms of altitude sickness, then feign the need for emergency services, as per the outlet.