The United Wa State Party (UWSP) has dismissed two senior officials accused of leading telecom fraud gangs in the autonomous region of northern Shan State, according to a statement released by the party yesterday.
Chinese police issued arrest warrants for Chen Yanban, the minister of construction of Wa Self-Administered Division, and Xiao Yanquan, mayor of Monglin District on October 11. The division is adjacent China.
“As senior cadres of Wa State, these two persons have violated relevant Chinese laws and regulations. This incident has caused great harm to our state’s relationships with international and neighboring countries,” the statement said.
The UWSP also said that the incident has damaged mutual political trust and friendly exchanges between Wa Self-Administered Division and neighboring countries.
It said that the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the UWSP had decided to revoke the membership of both party officials and remove them from their positions in its government in order to restore its reputation.
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 back to China in September.
The Chinese police described the two Wa officials as “key leaders” of telecom fraud gangs in Wa State, in a statement issued last week, adding that they have sufficient evidence to prosecute them.
Chinese Police are offering a reward of 100,000 to 500,000 renminbi (US$13,700 to $71,200) for information and cooperation leading to the arrest of the two officials.
According to their statement, Chen—also known as Bao Yanban—was the former head of the United Wa State Army (UWSA)’s Brigade 468. The UWSA, the armed wing of the USWP, is one of the most powerful ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar.
Chinese police said that online posts and videos have been appearing on WeChat and other Chinese social media applications for months claiming to expose Xiao’s involvement in the operations of industrial-scale scam compounds in Myanmar. Xiao also goes by the name He Chuntian.
Both men hold Chinese national ID cards and have residency in China: Chen in Yunnan province and Xiao in Guangdong province.
