Krishna Timalsina
July 28, 2022
LONG READ
KATHMANDU: A team of police deployed from the District Police Office Rupandehi raided a suspicious call center in Tilottama-2 Janakinagar on July 24.
The call center named Blue Sky Business Solutions was found involved in fraud business.
Police raided the call center and nabbed a Chinese national, the accused of the crime, an Indian national, and 258 Nepali youths being used in the fraud business.
According to the police, thousands of Indian citizens including Nepalis have been cheated by this call center.
The police informed that the gang had been running a fraud business for months sending messages through social media saying that they have won a lottery, hacking other people’s social networks including Facebook, and asking for a certain amount of money to collect lottery tickets and goods.
The police are now investigating using the details they got from the laptop, desktop, CPU, mobile, pen drive, various hard disks, iPad, etc. recovered from this call center. Chief of Area Police Office, Butwal DSP Thug Bahadur KC shared that the recovered goods and gadgets have been sent to the forensic lab for investigation.
After the arrested Indian citizen Niranjan Kumar stated that their head office is in China and they also have call centers in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, the police raided a call center run by another Chinese citizen in Gairigaon, Tinkune, Kathmandu.
Those Chinese citizens who have been living and working illegally in Nepal for a long time were producing and selling liquor called ‘Chinese millet local liquor’ in that inn without government permission.
The main planner of this call center running under the name of Sky World Service Pvt Ltd was also Chinese. Kathmandu police have detained 41 people including one Chinese citizen from the call center. It has been found that this gang gives loans through various mobile wallets and takes all the details from banking to three generations of borrowers.
It has been found that this group, which gives a maximum loan of 20,000 for a day, charges interest up to 5,000. For debt collection and fraud, the gang used ‘honey trap’ girls in Kathmandu.
A Chinese gang that used technology in Nepal to cheat millions through Nepali youths was also arrested on the dam side of Pokhara on June 30. Two Chinese men and one woman were operating this call center through a company called New Diamond Technology.
The frauds had used the citizenship of Suman Tamang of Kakani-7 of Nuwakot to run this company. The police seized Rs 4,597, 180 along with 89 Nepalis who had been used in their (Chinese) fraudulent business.
The Chinese, who came to Pokhara on a visit visa, had been cheating Nepalis in the name of a software company by renting a flat in Bajra Inn Hotel on the dam side for 6 months.
Series of Chinese nationals’ crimes in Nepal
The police arrested 22 Chinese including 10 men and 12 women from Budhanilkanth in Kathmandu on April 25. They came to Nepal as tourists and were involved in illegal work.
According to the Department of Immigration, the Chinese who have overstayed their visas and are involved in activities such as online gambling are now in jail.
Soon after, on June 7, Nagadhunga police arrested 4 Chinese and one Nepali driver with 38.9 million rupees procured through an unknown source. According to the police, 4 Chinese tourists, including 50-year-old Chinese citizen Aung Jai King, were returning to Kathmandu with undisclosed money collected from a call center and an online gambling house operating outside the valley in a vehicle numbered BAB 5710.
The Department of Money Laundering has confirmed that the source of the money recovered from them has not been disclosed.
Similarly, on February 13, Chinese citizen Zhang Li was arrested at Tribhuvan International Airport with 4.840 kg gold. A 36-year-old man with passport number EJ 0248131, who came to Nepal as a tourist, Li was arrested while checking near the airport customs office arrival tunnel gate.
On October 29, 2021, Sankhuwasabha police arrested Wu Ching Ling, a resident of Sichuan, China and Zhang Fuhen, a resident of Shandong, were arrested with a tool to mold Rudraksha in various shapes.
It has been confirmed that they had been cheating the people and selling them the artificial one-faced or multi-faced Rudraksha the business of creating one-faced or multi-faced Rudraksha for a long time.
37 people, including Chinese nationals, were arrested from the Mid-Baneswor area of Kathmandu on February 22. According to the Kathmandu police, they were involved in online illegal transactions, call bypass and gambling.
Later on the same day, the police raided a building in Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. At that time, 81 people including Chinese nationals were arrested. They were also involved in online fraud and call bypass business.
Similarly, on 7 July 2021, a team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Complex Teku and Lainchaur recovered the remains of endangered wild animals from a hotel run by Chinese nationals in Jyatha Galli, Kathmandu. Four more Chinese nationals arranging gambling there were also arrested at that time.
Staying in the hotel as tourists, they had 2 electric tables used to play gambling, 410 pieces of plastic balls called ‘mahjong’ in Chinese.
Police recovered Rs 889,155 in cash, 7 mobile phones from different companies, 1 piece of tiger skin, 1 piece of cow skin, 1 piece of a skin-like object, 20 pieces of the shell-like object, 900 pieces of Bodhichitta, 20 kg of rudraksha from there.
According to the police, 2 passports, 35 ATM cards of different banks in China, 250 voucher sheets (written), 68 voucher sheets (unwritten), 2 items that looked like tiger teeth, 2 sharp iron knives, and 1 sharp iron sword were also found there.
On May 9, 2019, 49-year-old Wang Chun Yan was arrested at Tribhuvan International Airport with Rs 100,000, US$ 13,000 and INR 8,000 while he was about to leave for China.
On July 30, 2021, Kathmandu Police arrested 56-year-old Shi Jhiwi from Jiangsu Province, China, from Thamel while producing alcohol illegally. Those Chinese nationals who came to Nepal on a tourist visa were running Home Sweet Smell Hotel and Restaurant Pvt Ltd by renting the house of Chinta Lama in Thamel.
On 20 September 2017, police arrested Chinese citizen Li Wan with 50,000 US dollars in Rasuwa. Likewise, earlier, a Chinese citizen Wang Chung was arrested from Timure in Rasuwa with 18,432 US dollars on 20 January 2017.
Those Chinese citizens who have been living and working illegally in Nepal for a long time were producing and selling liquor called ‘Chinese millet local liquor’ in that inn without government permission.
Similarly, a team of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Police, with the help of a special team of the Chinese police, arrested 122 Chinese citizens from 9 different houses in Kathmandu on December 26, 2020.
They were arrested with the help of a special team of the Chinese police on the basis of information that Chinese citizens were cheating Chinese nationals through cybercrime from Nepal.
747 cell phones, 331 laptops, 98 CPUs, 99 monitors, 22 pen drives, 327 SIM cards and 67 passports were recovered from 9 houses in Tarakeshwar, Manmaiju, Maharajganj, and Budhanilkantha then.
As the Chinese security officers took away all the equipment seized from the arrested Chinese nationals, the Nepal police did not find any trace of the Chinese fraud.
Nepal police had handed them over to the Chinese officials after the Ministry of Public Security of China made a written request to return all those devices. At that time, around 230 Chinese security personnel had come to Kathmandu with weapons in two planes of China Southern and China Eastern to pick up the Chinese involved in the online fraud.
According to the police, these Chinese entered Nepal after China launched an operation against its citizens in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Laos. Therefore, Chinese security officials came to Kathmandu with a special plane to pick them up.
Likewise, Sohrakhutte police arrested two Chinese nationals on May 30, 2020, for teasing, cheating and abusing Nepali girls in Dhalku, Thamel. They had been living in the Thamel area for a long time as tourists.
According to the police, the Chinese men ran a business of tempting the Nepali girl in many ways and trafficking them to China where they (the girls) would be used as domestic slaves.
On January 3, 2021, Chinese citizens Li Weiping and Li Xiangjiang were kidnapped while staying in a hotel in Gaushala, Kathmandu. Wu Chaw and Zhang Wei, Chinese citizens who came to Nepal as tourists, put them in a taxi and took them to Marminga in Sindhupalchok.
After a week, Nepal Police rescued the kidnapped Chinese from Sindhupalchowk.
On March 13, 2020, a Chinese team armed with swords and homemade weapons suddenly attacked a Nepali taxi driver in Jyatha Galli in Thamel, Kathmandu. After Thamel merchants and bankers retaliated against the Chinese, the police arrested Wang Yun Feng, a Chinese merchant who led the Chinese crowd.
On August 8, 2076, 2 Chinese citizens who were going to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines were arrested on charges of theft inside the ship.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of police arrested 13 doctors working at Apollo International Clinic in Thamel, China Great Wall Health Center in Bouddha, China People’s Hospital and China Dental Hospital on 28 February 2018. They were doing medical work in Nepal charging expensive service charges and without legal permission.
Similarly, on August 25, 2019, Nepal Police arrested five Chinese nationals who were illegally withdrawing money from ATMs.
Metropolitan Police Complex Kathmandu arrested 4 Chinese nationals who were staying at Maya Manohar Hotel on Durbarmarg along with one person who had withdrawn money from the ATM of Nabil Bank on Durbarmarg in the middle of the night.
The police recovered 1.26 million Nepali rupees and more than 9000 US dollars from them.
From dollar smuggling to human trafficking
On 20 September 2017, police arrested Chinese citizen Li Wan with 50,000 US dollars in Rasuwa. Likewise, earlier, a Chinese citizen Wang Chung was arrested from Timure in Rasuwa with 18,432 US dollars on 20 January 2017.
Similarly, a Chinese woman named Yan Kun Duan was arrested on September 29, 2017, while trying to go to Bhutan from Nepal with 46,480 US dollars. On June 15, 2015, Chinese woman Yang Hong was arrested at the airport along with 98,500 dollars.
On 14 January 2017, three Chinese people who were going to Rasuwa with 260,000 US Dollars, 180,000 Euros, and some Australian Dollars were arrested in Nagadhunga. Earlier, On Yi Wang, a Chinese citizen was arrested at Kathmandu airport with 74 thousand US dollars, 76 thousand Euros, and 48 thousand Swiss francs on 27 August 2015.
Looking at the data of the Nepal Police, it has been found that the Chinese were initially involved in illegal dollar transactions by smuggling gold and red sandalwood. The police had increased their surveillance on the Chinese after arresting Kovin Li, a Chinese national with 40,000 US dollars from Bhaktapur, for the first time, on 4 October 2010.
Later, in the same month, the police arrested three Chinese from Swayambhu in Kathmandu with three hundred thousand US dollars. Then, in December 2011, another Chinese was arrested for smuggling dollars to the Tatopani border. Police recovered 97,223 dollars from him in Jagati, Bhaktapur.
Similarly, on 30 August 13, 2019, the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police issued a notice in this regard.
The notice stated that Nepali girls were trafficked by Chinese nationals in the form of brides. After a long investigation, the police concluded that under the pretext of marriage Nepali girls were being trafficked. Four victim girls were rescued from Chinese marriage bureaus operating in various places in Kathmandu.
6 Chinese human traffickers were also arrested in this connection. It was found that they cheated Nepali girls of 20 lakhs by showing them the temptation to get married to a Chinese young man and to go to China easily. The gang of Chinese youths choosing Nepali girls at the Marriage Bureau office and taking Nepali girls to China by making marriage registration papers at the district administration office is inactive due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Nepal is becoming a transit for smuggling
According to the police, the Chinese have now made Nepal a transit point for wildlife smuggling.
There is a record that the police also seized 162 kg of pangolin from the Chinese who brought it to Nepal from the Congo, Africa via Turkey.
According to the police report, on 29 January 2018, Chinese citizens Que Xiorong and Que Liba O were arrested at the Kathmandu airport with the pangolin. Soon after, on 21 August 2018, the police caught three Chinese people in a hotel in Thamel with a sea horse and a tiger skin. The owner of the Kathmandu One Hotel was the Chinese citizen Chen Kang.
According to the police, the presence of Chinese in the crime network of Nepal was very little till 2004. There was no need to monitor activities other than the Free Tibet Movement. But now the Chinese are spreading the net illegal activities everywhere. They have become a headache for the police.
The Chinese are at the forefront of smuggling yarsagumba, sunakhari, tiger bones and various herbs. In addition, the Chinese have expanded their crime network in the medical sector in Nepal.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of police arrested 13 doctors working at Apollo International Clinic in Thamel, China Great Wall Health Center in Bouddha, China People’s Hospital and China Dental Hospital on 28 February 2018. They were doing medical work in Nepal charging expensive service charges and without legal permission.
According to the police, even now, some Chinese are involved in the business of operating similar hospitals by pretending to be Nepalis.
The Chinese even beat up the police
The activities of the Chinese were not limited to illegal trade. At a time when the whole world was in shock due to Corona, on 8 May 2020, the Chinese staged a gherao in front of the gate of the main administrative body Singha Durbar with the demand to be allowed to return home and beat up some policemen.
DSP Hari Bahadur Basnet of Metropolitan Police Circle, Singha Durbar and a female police officer were injured when 33 Chinese nationals who gathered in the restricted area pelted stones at police.
Soon after, on 10 March 2022, a 28-year-old Chinese citizen named Chong Zhenjian, who was doing suspicious activities in the northern area of Sankhuwasabha, was arrested. He was running illegal trade from the restricted area of Kimathanka, the border crossing between Nepal and China.
The details are the evidence to reveal the level of a criminal network that Chinese citizens are spreading in Nepal.
Chinese networks have spread everywhere from gold, dollars, wildlife parts, herbal smuggling, hacking, human kidnapping, attempted murder, human trafficking, drug trafficking, online fraud, gambling and game centers and illegal medical practices.
According to the police, the presence of Chinese in the crime network of Nepal was very little till 2004. There was no need to monitor activities other than the Free Tibet Movement. But now the Chinese are spreading the net illegal activities everywhere. They have become a headache for the police.
The police have handed over all those arrested to the Chinese government except those involved in serious crimes.
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