Kathmandu, November 27

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police arrested four Chinese nationals in illegal possession of a huge amount of Nepali and foreign currencies from Thahiti.

The arrestees are Xiaojun Ma, Baowei Lu, Wu Po and Chunkuan Lyu and are in the age group of 30-50. SP Dibesh Lohani said a CIB team raided a rented house in Thahiti and held them in possession of various currencies worth Rs 74.95 million on Tuesday. “The Chinese national were found concealing Rs 71.89 million, USD 62, Chinese Yuan 17,353 and UAE Dinar 470 in the house,” he informed.

They have been handed over to the Department of Money Laundering Investigation. The Chinese nationals have been suspected of exchanging currencies of various countries for US dollars before smuggling them into the northern neighbour.

They have so far failed to declare the source of the cash the police confiscated from them. Officials have been taking help of a Nepali-Chinese-Nepali interpreter to interrogate the Chinese nationals. Chinese smugglers have long been using land and air routes to smuggle foreign currencies into their country.

More than 35 Chinese nationals, mostly women, have been arrested in the Kathmandu Valley in the past two-and-a-half years for their involvement in currency smuggling.