The killing of a Chinese national who was abducted during a violent confrontation at Colombo Port City may be linked to a transnational cyber-fraud operation associated with Chinese organised crime networks, police now say, as the case widens into a major criminal investigation.
Investigators have identified the man found dead as an individual allegedly connected to computer fraud activities, NewsFirst reported. Police also believe the Chinese nationals involved in the confrontation were not engaged in any lawful employment in Sri Lanka and had arrived in the country roughly four months ago.
Officers from the Colombo Crimes Division have begun extensive questioning of two Chinese nationals, aged 34 and 38, who were arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport as they allegedly attempted to board a flight to Singapore, Daily Mirror reported. A court granted police permission to detain and interrogate the pair for 48 hours.
According to investigators, the confrontation unfolded in the early hours of Thursday inside Port City. Three Chinese nationals had gone onto a suspension bridge at around 11.00 p.m. to fish when, at roughly 2.00 a.m., a second group of about 20 Chinese nationals arrived, threatened them with firearms, assaulted them and abducted them. Two of the victims were later found bound hand and foot inside a van within Port City, while the third was taken away. His body was subsequently discovered in the Eheliyagoda area. Police recovered a pistol from a vehicle linked to the incident.
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said it was closely following the case and urged the Sri Lanka Police to conduct a thorough investigation and safeguard the safety and lawful rights of Chinese citizens in the country.
The case has drawn diplomatic attention to security within the flagship Port City development, a Chinese-backed offshore business district on Colombo’s reclaimed foreshore. Investigations into the abduction, the recovered firearm and the suspected cyber-fraud links are continuing.
