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| Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency said Tuesday it caught 10 foreigners suspected of illegally transferring about 50 billion won from Korea to Nepal. The picture shows the evidence including cash confiscated from the suspects. / Yonhap |
By Lee Jin-a
Ten foreigners have been caught for allegedly operating a "Hundi" business, illegally transferring some 50 billion won ($44.4 million) over five years from Korea to Nepal.
Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said Tuesday a Chinese international student and a Nepalese migrant worker were arrested for allegedly violating Korea's Foreign Exchange Transaction Act. Another eight foreigners were booked without arrest on the same charge.
The Chinese student, 30, and the Nepalese migrant worker, 36, allegedly received requests from about 3,500 Nepalese workers to send money to the workers' families in Nepal. The offences allegedly occurred between August 2011 and August 2016. Police said the two used the money to buy Korean beauty products and illegally exported them to China through Chinese middlemen.
The middlemen sent the money they earned from selling the products to a gang in Nepal, and the gang distributed the money to the workers' families.
In the process, about 50 billion won was transferred from Korea to Nepal without being reported, police said.
Another eight foreigners were booked without arrest for allegedly receiving the same requests from Nepalese migrant workers in Korea and passing the requests to the Chinese student.
A "Hundi" is a financial transaction in which money is illegally transferred between individuals in two countries, not through a legal banking system. Police said they will investigate the case further because terrorist groups often use the method.
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