A total of 122 Chinese men and women have been held in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu in what is being described as the biggest crackdown on transnational crime by the country, officials said on Tuesday.
Police only confined themselves to saying that the suspects were taken into custody after conducting raids at multiple locations in Kathmandu.
“This is the first time that so many foreigners have been detained for suspected criminal activities. We have definite information that they were preparing to commit major financial crimes”, the Reuters news agency quoted Uttam Subedi, Chief of Kathmandu Police, as saying.
Monday’s arrests came four months after four Chinese nationals were arrested for hacking several automatic teller machines (ATMs) in Kathmandu.
Those arrested may have committed crimes in several countries, including China, but came to Nepal to conduct organised crimes. They were suspected of committing several cybercrimes, hacking into bank cash machines and are now detained in different police stations. Their passports and laptops have also been seized, Nepalese police said.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that Chinese and Nepali police are cooperating on the case.
China is willing to expand law enforcement cooperation with Kathmandu, it added.
During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal on 12 and 13 October this year, both sides signed a treaty on mutual assistance in criminal matters.
