Flown to China by two China Southern planes
KATHMANDU, Jan 9: Three days after the District Administration Office (DAO) released 122 Chinese nationals, who were arrested earlier on the charge of being involved in suspicious activities including cyber crimes, the Department of Immigration (DoI) deported them to China on Wednesday evening.
They were flown to China in two China Southern Airlines aircraft sent by the Chinese government.
The first plane took off with 42 Chinese at around 6.45 pm and the remaining 80 were flown at around 7:30 pm, according to Director General at DoI Eshor Raj Poudel.
The decision to deport them was taken on Tuesday, according to the DoI. “During investigation, we found that only 31 Chinese possessed passports. The remaining didn’t have passports or any valid documents,” Paudel said, adding that the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu cancelled the passports and provided travel documents to facilitate their deportation. The DoI has also banned them from entering Nepal for four years.
122 Chinese nationals being deported today
“The gadgets seized from the arrestees have also been handed over to the Chinese authorities,” Paudel said, adding that the arrestees will land in Beijing, and the Chinese authorities will further investigate into their alleged involvement in various cross-border crimes.
According to the DoI, it fined Rs 1,000 per person to those who had overstayed their visas and Rs 2,000 to those without passports. Earlier, the District Administration Office, Kathmandu had fined all the 122 Chinese Rs 1,000 each.
This is the first time the government has deported foreign nationals in such a huge number.
All of them were arrested on December 23 from different places in Kathmandu by a joint team of Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) and Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu at the request of the Chinese government. But police didn’t find enough evidences of their alleged involvement in cyber crimes and a case of ‘indecent-behavior’ was filed against them for staying in Nepal without valid documents.
On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, had submitted its investigation report to the local administration through the District Attorney’s Office, Kathmandu. On the same day, the Chief District Officer of Kathmandu, Janak Raj Dahal released them after fining them Rs 1,000 each.
After this police had handed them over to the DoI.
Earlier, the Chinese government had requested the government of Nepal to arrest and deport more than 1,000 of its citizens believed to be involved in suspicious activities.
