Hyderabad: Accused in app fraud hide behind Chinese wall

Hyderabad: Investigators from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) who are working on the instant loan app frauds are facing a tough challenge as the Chinese nationals, who have been arrested, are not speaking English. Neither are they co-operating with translators as the arrested ones keep on repeating only one sentence, "I don't have any idea." If they are pushed further with some questions, they just keep quiet.

An officer working on the case said that usually whenever any foreign national is arrested, be it from Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, Oman, or any other country, they cooperate with the police and helps them in cracking the case. In the worst-case scenario, if the arrested person is unable to speak or understand English the case is transferred to the CID. The investigators take help from language experts from a renowned university in Hyderabad.

He said "after taking help from language experts the case will progress further. But in this case, the Chinese are not cooperating. Neither are they cooperating with the translators, due to which the situation is like a stalemate. After putting in a lot of effort, the department has decided to inform the Chinese government, through Indian Embassy in China. We have written letters to the embassy with the hope that we might get the case resolved."

The department is also taking help of Interpol to check whether the arrested Chinese were also involved in any similar offences in other countries. The main point for investigation is the source of money that was used to give loans to applicants. We would like to know if the money was routed into the country from China, Singapore, or illegal businesses within the country.

"Moreover, phones of the Chinese also contain a lot of important information, but the language set on these phones is Chinese. They are password protected. Though we have unlocked the phones with the help of experts the content is entirely Chinese. The translators are helping us to understand the language and content," added the officer.

Three Chinese were arrested by the City police from three commissionerates in the instant loan app- based frauds after multiple raids on various offices in Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Delhi. After conducting the basic formalities, the accused were handed over to CID for further investigation.