Telecom fraud suspects are handed over to Chinese police Photo: WeChat account of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security

Chinese public security authorities have promoted border law enforcement cooperation, in response to the telecommunications and online fraud in northern Myanmar affecting Chinese citizens, with a total of 41,000 criminal suspects handed over to Chinese police in 2023, the country's Ministry of Public Security announced on Tuesday.

Authorities disrupted over 1,900 criminal organizations and solved 29,000 criminal cases in 2023, ministry spokesperson Jia Junqiang said at Tuesday's press briefing.

Chinese public security authorities continued to crackdown on telecommunications and online fraud in 2023. A total of 437,000 cases of telecom and online fraud cases were solved, with the number of telecommunications and online fraud cases continuously decreasing since August 2023, Jia said.

Ming Guoping, Ming Julan and Ming Zhenzhen, ringleaders of a telecom and online fraud criminal gangs in northern Myanmar, were arrested in November 2023, while the head of the gang Ming Xuechang committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

The draft of the "joint punishment measures for telecom and internet fraud and related crimes" has been released to seek public opinions in order to implement the anti-telecom and online fraud law, according to the ministry.

As of the end of December 2023, the national anti-fraud center had issued a total of 9.4 million financial alert instructions nationwide, as a way to remind residents of the risk of being defrauded, according to the authorities.

Officials further implemented relevant operations to crackdown on illegal activities, solving 39,000 drug-related cases, arrested 66,000 criminal suspects, and captured 243 tons of various types of drugs, in 2023. In particular, Chinese police have publicly issued arrest warrants for a list of 10 major drug-related fugitives from the northern region of Myanmar, according to the official. 

Meanwhile, during summer operations, a total of 566,000 criminal cases have been solved, and more than two million public security cases have been investigated, with 975,000 suspects arrested. The homicide clearance rate remains at 99.9 percent in 2023, according to official data.