What’s new: Police in East China’s Zhejiang province have issued wanted notices for four key leaders of a telecom fraud syndicate in Myanmar’s Kokang region, as Beijing intensifies its crackdown on cross-border crimes against Chinese citizens.
Police in the city of Wenzhou are offering rewards of up to 500,000 yuan ($68,520) each for information leading to the arrests of Ming Xuechang, Ming Guoping, Ming Julan and Ming Zhenzhen, according to a statement released Sunday by the Ministry of Public Security.
An investigation found the syndicate had long been conducting telecom scams against Chinese citizens, including openly using armed protection to facilitate their criminal activities, the statement said.
The four are also suspected of committing other crimes such as intentional homicide, intentional injury and illegal detention, the statement said.
What’s more: Wenzhou police identified Ming Xuechang as a former Kokang official and Ming Guoping as the head of a militia squadron in the area. While the other two were not found to hold any official posts, their Chinese mainland identity cards show them as being registered in Lincang city in Yunnan province, which borders northern Myanmar.
Just over a month ago, Chinese police also put a bounty on two wanted telecom fraud ringleaders in northern Myanmar who were found to have swindled Chinese citizens out of large sums of money.
Chinese authorities have in recent years stepped up their efforts to crack down on the booming telecom fraud business, taking steps which include international police cooperation.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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