Two Chinese nationals wanted over the abduction and murder of another Chinese national at Colombo Port City have been arrested in Sigiriya, the Colombo Crime Division has said.
The two were found hiding in the Sigiriya area and taken into custody. Police said the CCD is conducting further questioning and investigations.
The case
The killing followed a clash between groups of Chinese nationals at Port City on July 23. One man was forcibly abducted during the confrontation, and his body was later recovered at a wooded location in the Eheliyagoda area, roughly 60 kilometres from Colombo.
Suspects had been arrested and remanded earlier in the case. The CCD then ran an extended investigation to trace the remaining suspects, who had fled the area.
The arrests follow a public appeal a week ago in which police released photographs of three Chinese nationals wanted in the case, warning that their tourist visas had expired and that they might attempt to leave the country illegally. Police said at the time that investigations had established all three remained in Sri Lanka.
Hiru News did not name the two men arrested, state the date of the arrest beyond its own Friday dateline, or say whether they are among the three whose photographs were published.
Earlier reporting had put the number of people identified in the case at eight, of whom three were traced abroad with Interpol assistance while three were believed to be evading arrest inside Sri Lanka.
The victim entered Sri Lanka from Cambodia in April on a Suriname passport and was suspected by investigators of involvement in computer-based fraud. The case has run alongside a reported rise in crimes involving foreign nationals, with about 700 foreign nationals arrested this year in raids on scam operations.
Hiru News reported the arrests in Sinhala. No verified English-language Sri Lankan newsroom had filed its own report as of Friday night.
