Sri Lanka emerging as Chinese mafia hub, gang wars reach island nation

The recent abduction and murder of a member of a global Chinese mafia syndicate by his rivals in Sri Lanka have raised concerns of a possible major national security threat, with law enforcement agencies uncovering various methods used by such criminals to abuse the island nation’s visa system.

According to people aware of the details, Sri Lanka is rapidly emerging as a base for international Chinese cyber crime syndicates and has prompted senior police officials to warn the top leadership over the need for urgent action before the situation escalates into a far greater crisis.

While nearly 1,000 foreign nationals – including Chinese, Cambodian, Myanmar and Vietnamese citizens – were arrested during a series of raids in recent months, the recovery of the body of a Chinese national from Karandana, Eheliyagoda in Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka on July 23 has further heightened concerns over the growing operations of such international mafia on the country’s soil.

An investigation into the matter revealed the Chinese national had entered Sri Lanka using a Cambodian passport under the name “Hao Pon”.

The victim’s passport was later identified as fraudulent. Investigators said they recovered another passport belonging to Him — this time issued by Suriname, a South American country. Both passports carried the same photograph but different identities.

Days before his death, the victim had begun the process of registering a company named “Ora”, in a purported bid to establish operations that would facilitate cyber crimes similar to those he had conducted in Cambodia.

The Sri Lankan police said Hao Pon did not travel alone. He arrived in Sri Lanka with his Chinese chef, physiotherapist, and driver, each of whom were reportedly paid a monthly salary of around US$3,000 (approximately ₹1 million). He also brought his 31-year-old Vietnamese girlfriend, who was about a year older than him, together with her pet dog.

Investigators, the police said, believe Hao Pon spent much of his recent life in Cambodia. He operated businesses such as resorts and beauty salons as legitimate fronts, but also secretly managed extensive cyber crime operations there by recruiting Chinese hackers in organised groups.

supplying data to the cyber scam operation. Police believe he escaped to Sri Lanka

to avoid paying that money.

waterfront with his driver and two Chinese nationals, who acted as his physiotherapist and personal security personnel, the police officials said. It was past midnight and he was fishing near the Port City’s suspension bridge when the Chinese mafia group arrived with weapons in a van.

The rival gang assaulted Hao Pon’s driver and bodyguard before forcing him into another vehicle. He was then taken directly to Karandana in Eheliyagoda – a remote location the gang allegedly surveyed several days earlier, the police said.

Hao Pon was repeatedly assaulted as the kidnappers demanded his mobile phone. Police said the victim had his mobile phone with him while fishing but was unable to tell the kidnappers what had happened to it.

The gang refused to believe him and kept demanding his mobile phone in a possible bid to access his banking transactions. The gang was allegedly attempting to gain access to millions of dollars held in a Cambodian bank account, the police said.

As the gang’s search reached the suspension bridge, two members attracted the attention of Port City police officers. Suspicious of their behaviour, one officer photographed them. As Hao Pon’s driver and bodyguard identified the two men, the photographs were shared with the facial recognition system at Bandaranaike International Airport.

Meanwhile, Hao Pon’s body was found in Eheliyagod, the police said.

Colombo Deputy Inspector General of Police Nishantha Soysa said police later identified eight Chinese nationals connected to the kidnapping. Three are believed to still be in Sri Lanka and efforts are underway to trace them.

Sources in the police said the Chinese authorities have agreed to assist in extraditing

the three suspects who managed to flee abroad, and investigators are optimistic they will be returned to Sri Lanka in the near future.

The suspects said during the kidnapping, an air pistol they had carried accidentally fell into the sea near the suspension bridge. It was only during a search for the air pistol that the Sri Lanka Navy divers recovered Hao Pon’s missing mobile phone from the seabed.

Officers also found the gang’s abandoned van in a parking area, from where another air pistol and a walkie talkie were recovered. A detailed investigation revealed that the gang solely relied on walkie-talkies for communication during the operation and deliberately avoided mobile phones to prevent the police from tracking them.

The members of the Chinese mafia group were staying in hotels and luxury apartments in Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya, the police said. Accommodation for all of them were reportedly arranged by an individual using the name “Li Jin.” The arrested suspects claimed they do not know his true identity, but police suspect he could be a senior leader of the Chinese criminal organisation.

Investigations uncovered three principal methods used by Chinese cyber criminals to abuse Sri Lanka’s visa system, the police said.

The first involves registering shell companies within Colombo Port City. These companies exist largely on paper but enable criminals to obtain visas by falsely presenting themselves as company directors or skilled employees, allowing them to bring cyber crime teams into the country.

The second method involves obtaining permission to conduct business outside Port City while claiming that their registered companies are based there. This allows the criminals to establish cyber crime centres in rented buildings and hotels across the country with limited regulatory oversight.

Police said over 10 such cyber crime locations were raided in recent months. The investigators believe these locations function as organised cyber crime compounds.

Interrogations of previously arrested Chinese cyber crime suspects and other investigations have repeatedly indicated that many are involved not only in cyber fraud but also in financial crimes.