Sri Lanka arrests nine Chinese over alleged cyberscam equipment
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The Chinese Embassy in Colombo says it is working closely with the local authorities to prevent its nationals from carrying out scamming operations in the country.
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COLOMBO – Nine Chinese nationals were arrested at Sri Lanka’s main international airport on April 16 while attempting to smuggle in communication equipment allegedly intended for cyberscam operations, Customs authorities said.
The arrests come two weeks after police detained 152 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, for allegedly running a cyberscam operation out of a hotel in the island’s north-west.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told AFP in Beijing on April 16 that China was willing to “cooperate to jointly combat criminal activities, including online fraud”.
Following those arrests, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said it was working closely with the local authorities to prevent its nationals from carrying out scam operations in the country.
The latest airport incident saw Sri Lankan officers recover 383 used mobile phones, 101 tablet computers, six Wi-Fi routers and Global Positioning System trackers from the arriving Chinese nationals, a Customs spokesperson said. “The equipment was taped to the bodies of the suspects,” the spokesperson said. The haul was valued at 24 million rupees (S$97,000) and was confiscated.
Separately, another six Chinese passengers were arrested on April 16 while allegedly trying to smuggle in 75,900 cigarettes packed into their luggage, officials said. The cigarettes, valued at 11.3 million rupees, were confiscated.
Organised criminal gangs have used casinos, hotels and fortified compounds across South-east Asia as bases to carry out sophisticated online scams, defrauding people through cryptocurrency investment schemes and fake romantic relationships, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Until a crackdown in 2026, the region was the epicentre of a multibillion-dollar online scam sector in which hundreds of thousands of fraudsters – some trafficked, others willing workers – cheat internet users globally with romance and cryptocurrency investment schemes.
“Due to Sri Lanka’s well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, favourable geographical location and relatively lenient visa policies, some telecom fraud gangs have moved to Sri Lanka,” the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said recently.
“That is why such cases have been increasing in Sri Lanka recently,” it added, noting that the scammers had been targeting Chinese nationals at home. AFP
