Human traffickers have been using the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal as a new route for trafficking Nepali women abroad. This came to light after the government was tipped off about 22 women stuck in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the first week of June. The government then sent a four-member fact-finding team representing the Ministry of Labor and Employment, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepal Police to Colombo. The they found that 14 of the women had already left Colombo by the time the team reached there.