Monday, December 23, 2019

Nepal Police arrest 122 Chinese nationals suspected of cyber crime

Nepal Police today held some 122 Chinese nationals, who entered Nepal on tourist and student visas, on suspicion of their involvement in cyber and financial crime.
They were arrested from seven private residences – some 3 in Manamaiju and 2 each in Bansbari and Budhanilkantha – today. Police also confiscated a large number of laptops and mobile phones from their apartments, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) under Nepal Police confirmed.
The operation was conducted by the CIB in coordination with Metropolitan Crime Division-Teku, Metropolitan Police Range-Teku, Metropolitan Police Office-Rani Pokhari and the Police Headquarters, the CIB said, adding that it is not known whether these Chinese nationals had valid visas to stay in Nepal or were overstaying.
The CIB is expecting to find out what exactly the Chinese nationals were doing in their rented apartments. “They were living secluded lives in rented apartments, which looked like offices,” the CIB said, adding that they also possessed special identity cards. “Anyone, who wanted to enter their apartments had to produce the IDs, which raised the eyebrows of police.”
The police said that they were arrested after monitoring their activities for few days using ‘urgent arrest warrants’, which allows police to detain suspects for up to 24 hours.
According to the CIB, most of the arrested Chinese nationals had visited Nepal on tourist visas but they were not engaged in touristic activities. “Some of them had also arrived in Nepal on student visas.”
Earlier, almost four months ago, police arrested some 6 Chinese nationals in connection with the the cyber heist in the banking sector, which saw illegal withdrawal of at least Rs 35.8 million from ATMs in Nepal and India.

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