logo
'Las Vegas in Laos': the riverside city awash with crime

'Las Vegas in Laos': the riverside city awash with crime

News.com.au14-07-2025
Rising from the muddy fields on the Mekong riverbank in Laos, a lotus tops a casino in a sprawling city which analysts decry as a centre for cybercrime.
Shabby, mismatched facades –- including an Iberian-style plaza replete with a church tower, turrets and statues -- stand alongside high-rise shells.
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) is the most prominent of more than 90 such areas established across the Mekong region in recent years, often offering people reduced taxes or government regulation.
Traffic signs in the GTSEZ are in Chinese script, while everything from cigarettes to jade and fake Christian Dior bags are sold in China's yuan.
Analysts say the towers are leased out as centres operating finance and romance scams online, a multibillion-dollar industry that shows no signs of abating despite Beijing-backed crackdowns in the region.
The GTSEZ was set up in 2007, when the Laos government granted the Kings Romans Group a 99-year lease on the area.
Ostensibly an urban development project to attract tourists with casinos and resorts, away from official oversight international authorities and analysts say it quickly became a centre for money laundering and trafficking.
The city has now evolved, they say, into a cybercrime hub that can draw workers from around the world with better-paying jobs than back home.
Laundry hung out to dry on the balconies of one high-rise building supposed to be a tourist hotel, while the wide and palm-lined boulevards were eerily quiet.
It is a "juxtaposition of the grim and the bling", according to Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.
It gives the "impression of opulence, a sort of Las Vegas in Laos", he said, but it is underpinned by the "grim reality" of a lucrative criminal ecosystem.
- 'Horrendous illicit activities' -
In the daytime a few gamblers placed their bets at the blackjack tables in the city's centrepiece Kings Romans Casino, where a Rolls Royce was parked outside.
"There are people from many different countries here," said one driver offering golf buggy tours of the city, who requested anonymity for security reasons. "Indians, Filipinos, Russians and (people from) Africa."
"The Chinese mostly own the businesses," he added.
Cyberfraud compounds have proliferated in special economic zones across Southeast Asia, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Kings Romans' importance as a "storage, trafficking, deal-making, and laundering hub (is) likely to expand", it said in a report last year, despite crackdowns on illegal activities.
The founder of the Kings Romans Group and the GTSEZ is Zhao Wei, a Chinese businessman with close links to the Laos government, which has given him medals for his development projects.
He and three associates, along with three of his companies, were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2018 over what it called "an array of horrendous illicit activities" including human, drug and wildlife trafficking and child prostitution.
Britain sanctioned him in 2023, saying he was responsible for trafficking people to the economic zone.
"They were forced to work as scammers targeting English-speaking individuals and subject to physical abuse and further cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment," Britain's Treasury said.
The same year and again last August, authorities in China and Laos cracked down on cyberfraud operations in the GTSEZ, raiding offices and arresting hundreds of suspects.
- 'Violence doesn't always pay' -
With public anger in China mounting, over both scamming itself and alleged kidnappings, Beijing instigated raids this year on centres in Myanmar and Cambodia.
The operations primarily targeted Chinese workers, thousands of whom were released and repatriated, along with hundreds of other foreigners.
Some say they are trafficking victims or were tricked and forced to scam people online, but some authorities say they are there voluntarily.
Scammers have adapted by shifting their locations and targets, specialists say, and Horsey explained that trafficking and abuses have reduced as the business model has developed.
"If you're trying to scale and produce a huge business... violence doesn't always pay," he said.
"It's better to have motivated workers who aren't scared, who aren't looking over their shoulder, who are actually free to... do their job."
Beijing realises it cannot completely stop criminality in the region, so prefers to manage it, he added.
Chinese authorities can "pick up the phone" to Zhao and tell him: "Don't do this, limit this, don't target Chinese people", he said.
That "is actually more valuable for China than trying to eradicate it everywhere and just lose all influence over it".
The United States Institute for Peace estimated in 2024 that Mekong-based criminal syndicates were probably stealing more than $43.8 billion annually.
Representatives of both the GTSEZ and Kings Romans did not respond to AFP's repeated requests for comment, while Zhao could not be reached.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Star Entertainment: Queens Wharf sale 'unlikely' as losses mount
Star Entertainment: Queens Wharf sale 'unlikely' as losses mount

The Australian

time21 hours ago

  • The Australian

Star Entertainment: Queens Wharf sale 'unlikely' as losses mount

Embattled casino operator Star Entertainment has announced the sale of its Queen's Wharf precinct is 'unlikely' to go through by July 31. In the latest blow, Star told the ASX that the sale of the hotel and entertainment complex to Hong Kong investment partners was on the rocks again. Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium each own 25 per cent of the Queens's Wharf and announced back in March they would buy Star's remaining 50 per cent in the development. But in early July, the deal threatened to collapse before Star Entertainment announced that it would repay $10m of the proceeds from the joint venture partners if an agreement wasn't reached by July 31. Star said the sale of its Brisbane Queen's Wharf was 'unlikely'. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell In its quarterly activities report released on Wednesday, Star said the deal was 'unlikely' and it would have to pay back $10m of the $45m it had received from the joint venture before paying an additional $26.5m by September 5. 'However, in The Star's view, based on the current status of discussions, it is unlikely that the parties will be in a position to finalise long-form documents by 31 July 2025,' Star Group said. 'The consequences of this potential outcome are discussed below, unless the parties agree otherwise.' Star Entertainment results also showed the business lost more money in the June quarter. The Star lost $27m in the last quarter compared with $24 in the previous quarter, with the Queen's Wharf being responsible for $15m in lost earnings. Star said its cash position had improved over the last quarter. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell Revenue came in slightly higher up to $270m in the fourth quarter to June 2025 compared with $268m in the previous quarter. As of June 30, 2025, Star had $234m in cash and $269m in cash equivalents, an improvement on the $44m it had on March 31. The improving cash balance comes after US casino giant Bally's lobbed a $300m takeover bid for majority control of Star on April 7. Star Entertainment received $100m on April 9 before receiving a further cash injection of $133m on June 27. It will receive the remaining $67m on October 7.

Cambodia denies Thailand's claims it breached ceasefire, as citizens hope truce holds
Cambodia denies Thailand's claims it breached ceasefire, as citizens hope truce holds

SBS Australia

time2 days ago

  • SBS Australia

Cambodia denies Thailand's claims it breached ceasefire, as citizens hope truce holds

A shaky ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia appeared to be holding Tuesday, as military commanders met despite Bangkok's allegations the truce had been breached with overnight skirmishes. Following peace talks in Malaysia on Monday, both sides agreed an unconditional ceasefire would start at midnight to end fighting over ancient temples in disputed zones along their 800-kilometre border. On Tuesday, the Thai military said Cambodian troops "had launched armed attacks into several areas" in "a clear attempt to undermine mutual trust", but said clashes later stopped. Cambodia's defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata insisted there had been "no armed clashes against each other in any regions". However, both sides said some morning meetings between rival military commanders along the border — scheduled as part of the pact — had gone ahead. Cambodian leader Hun Manet and Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shook hands over the ceasefire deal Monday at peace talks hosted by Malaysia and attended by delegates from the United States and China. "I saw photos of the two leaders shaking hands," said 32-year-old pharmacy worker Kittisak Sukwilai in the Thai city of Surin — 50 kilometres from the border. "I just hope it's not just a photo op with fake smiles and that those hands aren't actually preparing to stab each other in the back." In Cambodia's Samraong city — 20 kilometres from the frontier — an AFP journalist said the sound of blasts stopped in the 30 minutes leading up to midnight, with the lull continuing until midday. "The frontline has eased since the ceasefire at 12 midnight," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Tuesday morning message on Facebook. How many people have been killed in clashes between Thailand and Cambodia? Jets, rockets and artillery killed at least 42 people since last Thursday and displaced more than 300,000 — prompting intervention from US President Donald Trump over the weekend. The flare-up was the deadliest since violence raged sporadically from 2008-2011 over the territory, claimed by both because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia's French colonial administrators in 1907. "When I heard the news I was so happy because I miss my home and my belongings that I left behind," Phean Neth told AFP at a sprawling camp for Cambodian evacuees on a temple site away from the fighting. "I am so happy that I can't describe it," said the 45-year-old. A joint statement from both countries — as well as Malaysia — said the ceasefire was "a vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security". Both sides are courting Trump for trade deals to avert his threat of eye-watering tariffs, and the US State Department said its officials had been "on the ground" to shepherd peace talks. "I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade," Trump said in a message on his Truth Social platform, taking credit for the ceasefire deal after it was announced. "The US and I are still in negotiations," Thailand's Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira told reporters on Tuesday. "We're still waiting for the US to decide whether to accept our proposal." Did China play a role in Thailand and Cambodia's negotiations? The statement said China also had "active participation" in the talks, hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister and ASEAN bloc chair Anwar Ibrahim in his country's administrative capital, Putrajaya. Hun Manet thanked Trump for his "decisive" support, while his Thai counterpart Phumtham said it should be "carried out in good faith by both sides". Each side had already agreed to a truce in principle while accusing the other of undermining peace efforts, trading allegations about the use of cluster bombs and targeting of hospitals. Thailand says 14 of its soldiers and 15 civilians were killed, while Cambodia has confirmed only eight civilian and five military deaths. More than 188,000 people have fled Thailand's border regions, while around 140,000 have been driven from their homes in Cambodia.

Several dead after US casino shhotimg in torust mecca
Several dead after US casino shhotimg in torust mecca

News.com.au

time3 days ago

  • News.com.au

Several dead after US casino shhotimg in torust mecca

Two people are dead and four are wounded after a gunman opened fire outside a US casino, according to reports. Gunfire broke out at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, around 7:25 a.m on Monday (12.25am Tuesday, AEST). rpeorts The NEw Yok Post. Reno is a major tourist deatination adn is Nevada's second latrhets casion city after Las Vegas, Thecarnage focused around the casino's valet parking area, according to locla newspapser the Reno Gazette Journal. The gunman was shot by police and detained, and is among the wounded – some of whom are reportedly in critical condition. Police 'responded very quickly,' Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve told the Reno Gazette. 'It could have been much, much worse,' she added. 'We don't know yet quite how it started or who was involved.' Reno police warned residents to stay out of the area. Multiple emergency vehicles, including several ambulances, responded outside the casino. 'My heart breaks for the victims, their families, and our entire community. Reno is strong — but we are not immune to the epidemic of gun violence gripping this nation,' city council member Devon Reese said in a social media post.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store