3 Chinese held after police raid software firm in Nepal

Kathmandu: Nepal Police have arrested three Chinese nationals and a Nepali national from Kaski District with 4.6 million Nepali rupees after raiding a firm suspected to be involved in illegal activities.

A team from the District Police Office Kaski on Thursday raided the Chinese firm on suspicion of cyber-crime-related activities, Chief SP Ramesh Thapa told ANI.

"We have arrested three Chinese and a Nepali national and 4.6 million cash from the raid site from a rented house at Damsite, Pokhara-17. The possessors couldn't show the source of money which we confiscated. Also, our preliminary investigation has shown that Sino nationals were here on a tourist visa and have been working here in Nepal which is prohibited as per the immigration law. Further investigation is currently underway," Thapa told ANI over the phone.

As per police, the firm raided was a software company and had been registered under the name of Suman Tamang, a resident of Kakani Village Council (arrested Nepali national). Identities of Chinese nationals are yet to be ascertained.

Police also interrogated three Chinese nationals and 75 Nepali nationals working in the company. The rest of the employees has been released by Police under the term of being presented before the security agencies at the time of necessity.

Nepal is turning out to be a gateway for Chinese criminals and the Himalayan nation has raised concern over the increasing involvement of Chinese nationals in illegal activities.

This was evident when the authorities arrested 122 Chinese nationals, also with similar equipment, in December 2019 for their alleged involvement in criminal activities - hacking of the SWIFT Code of various banks.

Among other things, they are suspected of running Ponzi schemes online and scamming foreign nationals with lures of easy loans. The immigration department is responsible for investigating crimes perpetrated by foreigners.

The tip-off provided at the time said that around 4,000 Chinese nationals were carrying out illegal activities from cities such as Pokhara, Biratnagar and Chitwan, among others, excluding Kathmandu. (ANI)