22-11-2024 (BEIJING) Chinese and Myanmar authorities have achieved a significant breakthrough in their joint campaign against telecommunications fraud, with more than 1,000 suspects apprehended in Myanmar’s Tangyan region, including 763 Chinese nationals, in what officials are calling an unprecedented operation.
The operation, revealed in a Thursday announcement, marks the latest development in an extensive crackdown that has seen Chinese law enforcement working closely with their Myanmar counterparts to dismantle criminal networks operating along the countries’ shared border.
According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, the joint initiative has resulted in the arrest of over 53,000 Chinese nationals involved in telecommunications fraud since its inception last year. The campaign has successfully eliminated all major fraud compounds in northern Myanmar’s border regions, though criminal operations have increasingly relocated to deeper territories including Wanhai, Taunggyi, and Myawaddy.
In the most recent operation on Sunday, authorities conducted a raid in Taunggyi, seizing substantial evidence including computers, mobile phones, and scripts. Among those arrested were 69 individuals who had been on China’s wanted list. The suspects and evidence were transferred to Chinese custody on Tuesday through the Yonghe border checkpoint in Yunnan Province.
A senior official from the Ministry of Public Security emphasised that these criminal networks have evolved beyond fraud to include serious violent crimes such as kidnapping, intentional injury, and murder. “These activities pose a severe threat to the safety and property of Chinese citizens,” the official stated.
The ministry has issued a strong warning to the public about fraudulent overseas job advertisements, urging citizens to exercise caution regarding high-salary employment offers from abroad. The warning comes as criminals continue to lure Chinese nationals across the border under false pretences.
Taunggyi, a strategic town on the Shan Plateau that has seen various controlling authorities, became administered by the United Wa State Army in July following negotiations with Myanmar’s State Administration Council, as the region sought to avoid conflict amid ongoing military operations by the “Three Brotherhood Alliance.”
