More than 130 foreign nationals arrested in Sri Lanka for cyber fraud

Colombo, More than 130 foreign nationals were arrested in Sri Lanka for alleged cybercrime operations over the last two days, police said.

The police actions are part of a wider crackdown on cross-border online fraud networks operating from the island nation.

In a raid in Thalangama, a suburb of Colombo, the police arrested 37 Chinese nationals on Saturday.

One of them was a woman, two of them did not have valid visas, and one did not possess a passport, according to the police.

All of them were aged between 24 and 44.

In a separate raid on Sunday, more than 100 people were arrested in Rajagiriya, another Colombo suburb.

Those arrested in the second raid were from different countries that include China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia.

They were operating from a rented apartment, the police said.

Those arrested in the raids have been booked under the Computer Crimes Act Sri Lanka's main law to counter cybercrime, hacking, and data misuse among other things.