The Special Task Force arrested 54 foreign nationals — 35 Indian nationals and 19 Nepali nationals — at a tourist hotel in Dodanduwa, Hikkaduwa, on Monday over suspected involvement in cyber-related criminal activities, Ada Derana reported. Police recovered approximately 200 mobile phones and 25 laptop computers from the suspects.
Intelligence officers attached to the Boossa Army Camp received information that a group of foreign nationals was operating in Dodanduwa in connection with computer crime activities, Ada Derana said. A joint operation was launched on Monday afternoon by the STF Southern Province Special Raid Unit together with Hikkaduwa Police, and the suspects were taken into custody from the tourist hotel within the Hikkaduwa Police Division.
Investigations are continuing under the Hikkaduwa Police and the Computer Crime Investigation Division.
The Hikkaduwa raid is the largest foreign-cybercrime bust in a single location in recent weeks and extends a pattern of detections in Western and Southern Province tourist zones. Police arrested 60 foreign nationals at a Kollupitiya apartment on May 6 over a similar online-fraud operation, and earlier picked up 50 foreign nationals in Negombo who had entered the country on business visas. Authorities last week deported 37 foreign nationals linked to syndicates and tightened immigration checks at Bandaranaike International Airport on arrivals from countries identified with the cybercrime networks. Police on May 8 also asked landlords and hoteliers to vet tenants more carefully and report suspicious foreign occupancies.
Source: Ada Derana.
