KATHMANDU: As many as 10 foreigners including a Nepali have been booked for allegedly operating a hundi business, illegally transferring around Korean Republic Won 50 billion (USD 44.4 million) over five years from South Korea to Nepal, The Korea Times reported.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said a Chinese international student and a Nepali migrant worker were arrested for allegedly violating Korea's Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, according to the news report.

Other eight foreigners, whose nationality was not disclosed, were booked without arrest on the same charge.

The 30-year-old Chinese student and the 36-year-old Nepali worker allegedly received requests from about 3,500 Nepali workers to send money to their families in Nepal. The offences allegedly occurred between August 2011 and August 2016, according to the report.

According to police, the duo would use the money to buy Korean beauty products and illegally exported them to China through Chinese middlemen, who would  send the money they earned from selling the products to a gang in Nepal. The workers' families received the money from the gang's contacts in Nepal.

Transfer of money through hundi is illegal both in South Korea and Nepal.

Korean police said they would investigate into the casee.

Over 27,000  Nepalis are currently working in South Korea.

(South Korean Won 1 = Nepali Rupees 0.094)