Kathmandu, December 29

Nepal Police, who has not officially cleared the air about the crime of 122 Chinese nationals arrested on December 23, is likely to deport them after booking them under the immigration law.

Meanwhile, Kathmandu District Administration Office today remanded the Chinese nationals for 10 more days to police custody.

The Chinese nationals have been charged with committing social offence, though they were initially arrested on charge of cyber and financial crimes.

Police have yet to officially declared the exact nature of crime they had committed even as they claim to be working to establish it.

Amidst the confusion, multiple police sources told THT that the arrested Chinese nationals would be tried for offence under Immigration Act, in a bid to deport them.

According to Janak Raj Dahal, chief district officer of Kathmandu, the Chinese nationals were given 10 days police custody as per the request by the police for further investigation.

Deputy Inspector General Niraj Bahadur Shahi, who heads Central Investigation Bureau said, “As of now we believe that the arrested offenders had committed offense under the Immigration Act.” He added that if the arrested were found not committing other types of offenses, their fate will be decided by Immigration authorities.

Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi head of Metropolitan Police Range, Teku said the Chinese nationals were not involved in any kind of grave offense related to Nepal or Nepali and that they should be deported.

“It will not be wise to keep the Chinese nationals behind bars for social offenses, that is, if they were not found involved in any kind of serious offenses like financial or cyber crime related to Nepal,” SSP Subedi said. Police have already stated the arrested were not involved in any kind of illegal activities related to Nepal or Nepali.

By deporting the Chinese nationals to their country, Nepal can set example for others that Nepal is not a safe heaven for criminals, said a high ranking police official.

One of the major charges the arrested Chinese faced under Immigration law was their failure to provide valid document like passport with Nepali visa, according to a police source. Police have recovered only 67 passports from among the 122 arrested. Another charge was overstay, and not acting like tourists during their stay in Nepal on tourist visa, according to police.

Police are still recording statement of the arrested and have sent a few mobiles and laptops confiscated from them to digital forensic lab as part of investigation.

Majority of the arrested Chinese nationals said they had come to Kathmandu for research on business environment in Nepal, according to a person, who claimed to be working for the police as a translator to facilitate communication and legal procedure between the arrested Chinese nationals and police. “But, nobody seems to know their boss, who sent them to Kathmandu,” he said.

Arrest of the Chinese nationals is shrouded in mystery as police have been working to deport them without making public the exact of nature of offense they committed.