Photo: Sina Weibo

A fresh group of 109 suspected telecom scammers being handed over to China from northern Myanmar brings the accumulated number to 1,482, following recent moves by China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to intensify border police cooperation efforts in cracking down on cross-border telecom fraud.  

According to the MPS, the good news came on Saturday that 109 suspects of telecom fraud and a range of criminal tools were handed over to the police department in Pu’er, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, which has been engaged in the cross-border police cooperation. 

Among the suspects, 11 are online fugitives, bringing the accumulated number of online fugitives among the 1,482 telecom scammers caught in northern Myanmar to 58, meaningfully disrupting criminal elements engaged in offshore crimes. 

In recent years, following intensifying crackdowns by Chinese public security authorities and the continuous deepening of international law enforcement cooperation, telecom fraud criminal groups that were previously hidden in Southeast Asian countries have gradually relocated to northern Myanmar. They mainly operate in the areas in Myanmar which are adjacent to the Chinese cities and prefectures as such as Xishuangbanna, Pu’er, Lincang and Dehong in Yunnan. 

The MPS attaches great importance to these efforts, and have organized public security authorities in Yunnan and other regions to enhance analysis and assessment, innovate law enforcement systems, strengthen police cooperation and adopt various measures to eliminate offshore telecom fraud. 

The public security authority in Puer also strengthened law enforcement cooperation with partners in Myanmar. 

So far, the MPS has deployed public security departments in Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan, Guangdong, Chongqing and other regions to gradually transfer the suspects back to their own jurisdiction from Yunnan.

Meanwhile, the ministry has required the public security departments across the country to engage in the investigation into the cases with an all-out effort, thoroughly examine the criminal facts, and probe into the upstream and downstream criminal chains, committed to dismantling criminal groups, disrupting the criminal networks and cutting off criminal channels. 

While targeting illegal activities such as fraud and illegal border crossings in accordance with the law, authorities will also investigate related crimes such as domestic gray and black business activities, will hand out heavy penalties to domestic collaborators of cross-border criminal syndicates.  

According to one ministry official, earlier crackdown operations against telecom fraud crimes in northern Myanmar related to China have achieved significant results. The MPS and Yunnan provincial public security department have deployed local police to intensify their efforts through border law enforcement cooperation in advancing crackdown operations, clearing the physical bases for fraud and apprehending individuals involved in a bid to resolutely safeguard the Chinese people’s properties and legal rights.

Global Times