UN Report Warns of Organized Crime Infiltration in Timor-Leste’s Free Trade Zone

Timor-Leste has emerged as the latest target for organized crime groups using foreign direct investment (FDI) as a cover to establish scam centers and illicit gambling operations, according to a new assessment from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Special Administrative Region of Oecusse-Ambeno (RAEOA), and in particular its Oecusse Digital Centre (ODC) free trade zone, has revealed regulatory weaknesses that appear to be exploited by criminal actors presenting themselves as legitimate investors.

This development comes in the wake of the Philippines’ decision in July 2024 to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs). During a state visit to Dili in October 2024, Philippines Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla specifically cautioned Timor-Leste officials that offshore operators might attempt to relocate. He warned that the country could be viewed as a new base for displaced gaming businesses.

Concrete signs of infiltration are already being documented. On August 25, 2025, law enforcement authorities raided a hotel in RAEOA, seizing SIM cards and Starlink devices—equipment frequently associated with scam center operations across Southeast Asia. Investigators are still determining whether those found at the property were victims coerced into working or willing participants. Several, however, possessed advanced IT training, which UNODC described as evidence of “a growing professionalization in parts of the region’s scam centre industry.”

The report further connects the hotel and its related ventures to a broader lattice of shell firms and offshore structures linked to gambling enterprises in Cambodia. UNODC said there were overlapping directorships among companies involved in managing hospitality businesses in Oecusse, Dili, and the ODC, suggesting deliberate efforts to obscure the real nature of the operations.

One of the most prominent entities in the network is “Tech Company A,” which had been chosen to oversee RAEOA’s National Digital ID initiative. Its chairman was convicted in Singapore in 2024 for conspiring with a Chinese cybercrime syndicate to obtain stolen personal data intended for online scams and gambling. Despite serving time in custody and being barred by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, the individual remains indirectly linked to RAEOA projects through a series of connected companies.

The UNODC report also underscores direct ties to powerful transnational crime groups, including the 14K Triad. Among the names cited is Wan Kuok-koi, better known as “Broken Tooth,” a former Macau gangster with a long history of involvement in gambling and junket ventures that intersect with illicit financial flows throughout Southeast Asia.

Networks active in Timor-Leste are further connected to Cambodian casino operators implicated in online fraud and money laundering, as well as companies running dozens of questionable gambling domains. According to UNODC, the structures mirror those that transformed Cambodia’s Sihanoukville and Myanmar’s Myawaddy into hotspots for human trafficking, cyber-enabled fraud, and underground gambling.

“Once infiltrated by organized crime, these jurisdictions often become hubs for cyber fraud, drug trafficking, and human trafficking,” the UNODC warned, drawing direct comparisons to developments in the Philippines and in parts of the Mekong region.

The Timor-Leste situation also fits into a broader regional trend, the report added, where criminal syndicates rely on shell companies, professional intermediaries, and citizenship-by-investment programs to mask their activities. Several individuals tied to questionable enterprises in the country were found to hold multiple passports—sometimes as many as five—allowing them to manipulate identity systems and slip through law enforcement scrutiny.

By layering companies across multiple jurisdictions and leveraging the expertise of professionals, these groups succeed in moving illicit funds into the legitimate economy while avoiding accountability. “Organized crime groups engage professionals, including lawyers, accountants, and corporate service providers, who possess specialized knowledge of legal and financial systems,” the report observed, stressing that these experts may be complicit or unwittingly drawn into facilitating crime.

The timing is particularly sensitive, as Timor-Leste prepares to formally enter the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October 2025. UNODC cautioned that criminal infiltration of RAEOA and its digital infrastructure “poses a serious security risk,” threatening both the protection of personal data and public trust in the nation’s emerging digital governance systems.

Citing earlier trajectories in Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines, the report warned that without decisive regulatory measures, Timor-Leste faces the risk of becoming a new hub for transnational organized crime.

By fLEXI tEAM