Beijing says citizens arrested in India are tourists, not spies

China said Thursday that three of its nationals arrested in India on suspicion of money laundering and spying on border security camps, were tourists having mistakenly crossed over the border from Nepal.

"Related reports do not reflect reality. Recently, three Chinese tourists were on holiday near the Nepal-India border and mistakenly entered India and were detained by Indian police," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a press conference.

"China's embassy in India is finding out more details from the Indian side, and demands that India deal appropriately with the situation," Hong added.

The arrests were made in Uttar Pradesh, an Indian state bordering Nepal, Indian police said Wednesday, adding that the accused, including a woman, said they were employees of Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies, according to AFP.

"We arrested them for trespassing, as we found them on Indian soil without a valid Indian visa," Local police chief Sanjay Kakkar told Re-uters, adding that the three were caught taking photographs of border guard installations.

"We are suspecting their involvement in some money laundering activity, as they were carrying Indian PAN (tax document) cards in their names," Kakkar said.

Huawei said the company was cooperating with local authorities to determine the facts.

The Indian government has voiced its suspicions about Chinese telecom providers in the past. Just last year, security concerns fueled re-strictions on imports of Chinese equipment, and the government blocked several deals between Indian firms and Chinese vendors, according to AFP.

Chinese telecom companies have big business hopes in the Indian mobile market, the fastest-growing such market in the world, with nearly 600 million subscribers.

Agencies