KATHMANDU: Nepal Police have arrested seven Chinese nationals for allegedly operating an illegal international call bypass scheme, authorities said on Monday.

The suspects were detained by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) along with equipment used for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operations. Those arrested have been identified as Liu Fan, 33; Qiu Zhikun, 33; Liu Qianwei, 41; Tu Shuangsheng, 41; Huang Kang, 38; Cai Zhixing, 49; and Zhang Hao, 42.

According to CIB spokesperson Shiva Kumar Shrestha, the arrests were made in the Jyatha area of central Kathmandu following intelligence that an international call bypass operation was being run illegally from a local hotel.

Police said the group is under investigation for offenses under Nepal’s Telecommunications Act of 1997. Authorities did not immediately disclose how long the operation had been active or the estimated financial losses involved. The investigation is ongoing, CIB said.