China’s Ministry of Public Security rejected claims that deportees from Thailand are refugees who might face unfair treatment in China, Singapore-based newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported Sunday.

Such claims aimed to “demonize” China, Tong Bishan, an official of Ministry of Public Security who has been helping lead China's efforts to get the Uyghurs back, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. 

Tong said that most of the 109 Uyghurs deported from Thailand back to China last week come from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and they were on their way to participate in jihad in Syria and Iraq. 

They are now in the regional capital of Urumqi undergoing investigation. A dozen of them were involved in terrorism crimes, Tong said. 

The report said that preliminary investigation shows that among the deportees, there are women, elderly people and children, who had to pay large amounts of money to ring leaders in the passing-by countries and some of the money were transferred into the accounts owned by East Turkestan Islamic Movement. 

“They are under-educated and it is difficult for them to make a living abroad.” said Tong, adding that if these people arrive in Turkey, several terrorist organizations would pick them up and some would recruit them as fighters by giving them at least $2,000. 

The ministry told the Global Times that China has reported eight ring leaders to the Turkish police and requested their arrest. 

Since October last year, Chinese police have seized 22 Turkish suspects, who confessed that they were ordered by the ring leaders in Turkey to organize Chinese people to sneak into other countries. 

Police said that the embassy of Turkey in certain Southeastern Asian country also provided help for the illegal emigration.