Arrested Chinese to be deported by tomorrow

We were under pressure to deport them rather than collect evidences to prove them guilty

Kathmandu, January 5

The government is preparing to deport 122 Chinese nationals arrested on suspicion of engaging in ‘cyber and financial’ crime, as the authorities could not gather adequate evidence to indict and imprison them in Nepal.

Detained Chinese people cover their faces as they are taken to a court in Kathmandu, on Tuesday, Dec 24, 2019. Photo: AP

The District Administration Office, Kathmandu, today imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on each of the Chinese for ‘indecent behaviour’ and ordered their release. They were booked for ‘indecent behaviour’ as some were found engaging in activities that breached the terms and conditions of their visas while others were not even in possession of their passports. Of the 122 arrested, passports of only 67 were seized by the police.

Since all of them have breached the immigration law, the police have written to the Department of Immigration to conduct further investigation. They were supposed to be taken to the department right after the district administration office freed them, but due to “space constraints” they have been kept at police stations in Kathmandu.

A detained Chinese man reacts towards the media as he walks into the police station in Kathmandu, on Tuesday, December 24, 2019. Photo: Reuters

“We’ll take them to the Immigration Department tomorrow,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Uttam Raj Subedi, who heads Metropolitan Police Range, Teku. They will be deported after the department completes all the legal procedures.

“We have not been able to finalise their deportation date as China needs to send an aircraft to ferry them, but it can be as early as tomorrow,” said a source on condition of anonymity.

Director General of Department of Immigration Eshwor Raj Poudel said the Chinese would be deported to China within two days. ‘’Since police investigation has shown that the arrested Chinese were not involved in crime related to Nepal, we will have to deport them from the country after recording their statement,” added Poudel.

He said the 122 Chinese would be deported in a chartered plane to be sent by China.

Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa, who left for China today on a six-day goodwill visit, will discuss this issue with his counterpart Zhao Kezhi, according to an MoHA source.

The 122 Chinese were arrested on December 23 on suspicion of using social media to swindle money from rich, single and divorced Chinese women, running an illegal
online gambling racket, operating Ponzi scheme and blackmailing Chinese by hacking their private information from phones and computers.

“We could have proven these charges, but our investigations were not headed in that direction from the beginning because we were under pressure to deport them rather than collect evidences to prove them guilty of what they actually did here,” claimed a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Police presented the Chinese before the District Administration Office today, although the court deadline to conduct investigation into their activities expires only on Tuesday.

 

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