The Chinese government has issued arrest warrants for a minister and a mayor in the Wa Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) for their alleged leading roles in telecom fraud gangs in the autonomous region of Myanmar’s northern Shan State near the Chinese border.
The Hanzhou City Police Department in Jiejiang province and the Kunming City Police Department in Yunnan province issued warrants for the arrests of Chen Yanban, aka Bao Yanban, and Xiao Yanquan, aka He Chuntian, on Wednesday.
Chinese police said in a statement the two are “key leaders” of telecom fraud gangs in Wa region, adding that they have sufficient evidence to prosecute the two.
They said they are offering a reward of 100,000 to 500,000 renminbi (US$13,700 to $71,200) for information and cooperation leading to their arrests.
According to the statement, Chen is the minister for construction in the Wa SAZ and a former head of the United Wa State Army’s Brigade 468.
Xiao was identified as the mayor of Mengneng County. For months, online posts and videos have been appearing on China’s TikTok and WeChat apps claiming to expose his involvement in the operations of industrial-scale scam compounds in the county. Both Chen and Xiao hold Chinese national ID cards with residency in Yunnan and Gaungdong respectively.
The warrants come as the Chinese government ramps up its efforts to crack down on scam syndicates operating near its border with Myanmar.
Myanmar’s border areas with Thailand and China have seen a rise in cyber-scam operations and related criminal activities since the coup in 2021. Chinese criminal gangs operate casinos under the protection of ethnic armed groups on the Thai border.
China this year pressured Myanmar’s junta to take action against cyber scams, which the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says have “seriously harmed Chinese interests.”
In response, the regime handed over 24 people arrested for involvement in online scams to Chinese authorities in August and 377 Chinese allegedly involved in telecom fraud were transferred in September.
In October, the Chinese government arrested 11 businessmen and officials from Myanmar’s Kokang SAZ while they were visiting Yunnan. It has been speculated those detained were involved in some form of online scamming.
Jason Tower, Myanmar country director at the United States Institute of Peace with a focus on China and Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy that the arrest warrants for officials from Wa SAZ come at a time when the Chinese government is under growing international and domestic pressure to address the global crisis sparked by transnational organized crime groups from China operating criminal hubs in Southeast Asia.
“China’s moves to arrest these key players is a sign of a growing willingness on the part of the Chinese government to crack down,” he said.
Asked how it’s possible for the Chinese police to issue arrest warrants for Wa officials in Myanmar, Tower explained that as many elites in the region hold Chinese national ID cards and passports, it is relatively easy for China to issue a warrant for their arrest.
“It is striking that the Chinese warrants identify the official positions of the two wanted Wa criminals in Shan State—this sends a strong message to the Wa that they are well within reach of Chinese law enforcement,” he said.
In southern Myanmar, syndicates along the Thai border remain intact as they are protected by regime-friendly ethnic Border Guard Force groups.
Alarms have been sounded that as the crackdown on the Chinese border escalates, many scam syndicates are moving to the Thai border.
“Concerns are also growing that trafficking of new victims into compounds in Karen State and eastern Shan State is on the rise, as the criminal syndicates have lost a very large number of scammers in northern Myanmar,” he warned.
