Kathmandu, December 25

The arrest of 122 Chinese nationals is still shrouded in mystery, as police have not been able to make full public disclosure of crimes they committed.

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police held a press conference today to disclose information on the biggest arrest of foreign nationals in a single day. But journalists were disappointed as most of their questions went unanswered.

The arrests were made two days ago, but in these 48 hours police have not been able to provide concrete reasons behind their arrests. All police have been saying since Day 1 is that they had committed ‘cyber and financial crime’. When asked what that broad term meant, police struggled to provide an explanation.

“They were using social media to swindle money from rich single and divorced Chinese women,” said CIB Head Deputy Inspector General Neeraj Bahadur Shahi. “The racket did not launch attacks on Nepali or Chinese financial system.”

When asked about the types of social media platforms used by the Chinese, the number of defrauded people and money involved in the scam, DIG Shahi went tight-lipped.

Seeing journalists’ dissatisfaction, Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi came to the DIG’s aid, stating that the Chinese were also involved in Ponzi scheme. “They would ask Chinese investors to make investment online and initially provide handsome returns. This cycle would continue for some time until the scammers got hold of large sums of money. Then they’d shut down the website,” SSP Subedi said.

But again he could not provide specific information on how the Ponzi scheme was being operated and who all lost money.

So far, it is known that the arrested Chinese were spending lots of money here. They were paying a monthly rent of Rs 3 million for an eight-storey house in Manamaiju, which is double the market rate. They had rented nine houses in Kathmandu. They also ordered food from restaurants.

But they did not carry much cash with them. Police have confiscated only 5,436 Chinese Yuan and 43,000 Cambodian riel from them. However, they were in possession of top-up cards of Nepal Telecom and Ncell worth Rs 48,850. Police have also confiscated 528 laptops and desktop computers, 747 mobile phones with sim cards, and additional 327 sim cards from the houses they were living in.

“We believe they were involved in illegal money transfer business as well,” a high-level police source told THT on condition of anonymity on the sidelines of the press conference.

As police have not been able to confirm illegal activities performed by the arrested Chinese, they have charged them of committing ‘social offence’ and have remanded them to police custody for five days.

A large number of those arrested are not in possession of their passports. So far, police have confiscated passports of 67 Chinese nationals who have valid tourist visas. Police have no clue on the visa status of others and whether they flew to Nepal or used land routes.

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