The Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) raided 10 student consulting firms on Friday, as the authorities’ crackdown continues on the business of sending students to foreign colleges by charging exorbitant service fees and sometimes using dishonest means. Among the firms that MPCD teams raided on Friday, nine were found operating without government permits while the remaining one was found involved in sending young people abroad for employment. The MPCD teams have detained 12 individuals for investigation. According to the MPCD, Kalimati-based Express Entry Education World was found running a foreign job recruitment racket while maintaining a front of an education consultancy. The firm had collected Rs 4.5 million from 11 people with the assurance to send them to South Africa to works as security guards. The firm’s managing director, Sadhana Basnet, and its manager, Ram Kumar Ranjitkar, have been taken to custody for investigation.