A Chinese national has been arrested on the charge of holding teenage girls hostage and sexually abusing them.

According to the police, Yang Li Ming, 49, a Chinese national from Fujian province currently living in Lalitpur Metropolitan City-22 was arrested from Bungmati in Lalitpur on Saturday.

Lalitpur Metropolitan Police Range Chief SSP Siddhi Bikram Shah informed that the Chinese national lured girls from different districts to sexually exploit and abuse them in a rented house located in Sohrakhute near Bungmati in the metropolis.

Police informed that three girls were rescued from the rented house and preliminary investigation revealed that two 17-year-old girls from Rambazar in Pokhara Metropolitan City-10 of Kaski district and a 13-year-old girl from Jhapa Mechinagar Municipality-1, were allegedly raped by the Chinese national.

SSP Shah informed that the Chinese citizen has been taken into custody and an investigation is underway.

The police are yet to ascertain when and why the Chinese national had come to Nepal, what he did at the rented house, and how many girls were victimised by him.