The founder of Kokang region’s Border Guard Force (BGF) – who has been backed Myanmar’s military regime – has been named by Chinese authorities as the “main suspect” behind cyber crimes in the region and is named on an arrest warrant issued on Sunday along with other nine senior bosses allegedly involved in online scams.
The warrant describes Bai Suocheng as the main suspect in a cyber-scam syndicate operating in Kokang, which borders China in northern Shan State.
Bai Suocheng is also a former administrative chairman of the region, which is known officially as Kokang Self-Administered Zone.
The 74-year-old leader is a believed to be an ally of Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
Sunday’s warrants are part of an intensifying crackdown against online scams in areas of Myanmar that border China.
Bai Suocheng’s son Bai Yingcang is also named on the arrest warrant.
Other high-ranking Kokang officials and business leaders named on the warrant include its current Border Guard Force commander, Wei San, and the president of the region’s biggest conglomerate, Fully Light Group, Liu Zhengxiang. Two of Liu’s Fully Light Group colleagues are also named on the warrant.
The arrest warrant was issued after investigations found “solid evidence” that the 10 individuals (eight men and two women) were involved in cyber scams, a statement from the Chinese police said.
The 10 people were not only deeply involved in running online scams but had also committed other very serious crimes, including torture and forced detention, the warrant says. It also says that the 10 individuals had been responsible for suicides.
Police announced a reward of 100,000 to 500,000 yuan for information leading to the arrest of the 10 individuals.
A tumultuous region
Nestled in the northeastern corner of Myanmar’s Shan State along the border with China, Kokang Self-Administered Zone is home to ethnic Kokang people who speak Mandarin and use China’s currency.
Bai Suocheng took control of the autonomous enclave in August 2009, when he was deputy commander of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). He drove its octogenarian chairman, Peng Jiasheng, out of Kokang with the help of Myanmar’s military.
Under the MNDAA, Kokang had been a hotbed of drug and weapons trafficking, according to US diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks.
Myanmar’s current junta boss, Min Aung Hlaing, led the offensive against Peng’s MNDAA in 2009 while he was a lieutenant general heading special operations.
Bai Suocheng was appointed chairman of Kokang Self-Administered Zone as a reward for his assistance to Myanmar’s military. He subsequently founded the Kokang Border Guard Force, which has been backed by Myanmar’s military, including the current regime.
The Kokang Border Guard Force began crumbling after the launch of Operation 1027 in late October. The coordinated offensive against the junta – and its allies – by three ethnic armed groups, including the MNDAA, is wiping Myanmar’s military and its allies from the zone and other areas in northern Myanmar.
The MNDAA is now poised to seize Kokang’s capital, Laukkai, and is led by the son of the man Bai Suocheng ousted.
The Brotherhood Alliance, as the three armed groups are called, also announced that one of the missions of Operation 1027 was to eradicate online scams in the area.
Thirty-one year old Bai Yingcang, the son of Bai Suocheng, is the general manager of Myanmar Yum Group. He also chairs Cangsheng Technology Park, previously led a Kokang militia and oversaw Kokang Self-Administered Zone’s financial bureau.
Myanmar’s junta issued an arrest warrant for Bai Yingcang him on November 16 for alleged involvement in online scams. The warrant was later revoked because China had not issued one for him, the regime said.
Sunday’s arrest warrants are part of an ongoing effort by Chinese authorities to crack down on online scams syndicates operating along its border with Myanmar.
Beijing has been irritated by the proliferation of the syndicates along its border, including in Kokang, and has been pushing Myanmar’s junta to take serious action against the syndicates since the middle of this year.
In late November, the regime said that since September it had rounded up about 31,000 suspects along its border with China and handed them over to Chinese authorities.
Security analysts said that the majority of those handed over to Chinese authorities were low-level suspects, despite the presence of a few scam-center leaders.
In mid-November, three alleged ringleaders wanted by China were arrested in Laukkai, Kokang’s capital. A fourth suspect, Ming Xuechang, shot himself during a raid and later died, according to Myanmar’s junta-controlled media.
Sunday’s arrest warrants came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s met with his Myanmar regime counterpart Than Swe in Beijing last week. Junta controlled media reported that the fight against online scams was among the topics they discussed.
