Laos’ criminal casino empire: Chinese gangsters suspected of running brothels and online scams, and trafficking humans, animal parts and drugs

The first time Seng saw someone jump to their death was from the window of his dorm, in a gated compound where armed guards patrolled outside, making sure no one escaped. But Seng had never spoken to the man he saw die that day; workers weren’t allowed to speak to people from other teams or buildings. They weren’t even allowed to leave their dorms.

“If you can work, find customers and you follow all the rules, it’s fine,” says Seng (not his real name), “but if you break any rules, you are locked in a room and tasered. If you try to go outside, you are tasered and beaten. If you can’t finish your job, they sell you.”

The Laotian man in his mid-20s faced this ordeal before his release in May after six months in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), a sealed-off gambling town that centres on the Kings Romans Casino, in a remote corner of northwestern Laos, run by the notorious Chinese gangster Zhao Wei. Laos treats the area like an autonomous state, subject to its own rules, which runs on Chinese time, and where the main languages and currency used are also Chinese.

The GTSEZ is situated in the heart of the Golden Triangle, where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet at the Mekong River. The area was once a major producer of opium and heroin (a fallout from the Vietnam war, when the trade exploded to meet demand from American troops) and, according to Vice magazine, it is now one of the world’s biggest methamphetamine factories. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recording more than one billion meth pills seized in East and Southeast Asia last year.

The GTSEZ, known locally as “Kings Romans” after Zhao’s Hong Kong-registered company that owns the zone, is an infamous hub of gaudy casinos and kitsch resorts. It has long been implicated in human trafficking and drug smuggling, and caters to a predominantly Chinese high roller clientele seeking out bear-paw soup and tiger-bone wine to go with their rounds of baccarat and call girls.

In theory, Kings Romans’ status as an SEZ should mean authorities can’t enter without a formal com­plaint, but in reality they don’t dare go in at all without Zhao’s permission. Local authorities in this tiny prov­ince of Bokeo, whose economy is dominated by the multibillion-dollar SEZ investment, frequently justify inaction over criminality inside Kings Romans by saying it is too difficult to get inside.