Almost 700 people were arrested by Tachilek City's online money fraud gang

While the military council released on February 23, 2024, the computer and related equipment used by illegal online gaming and money fraudsters.

 

On the morning of February 23rd, the military council raided U Kyaw Thein's farm in Sansai (A) Ward, Tachilek City, on the Myanmar-Thailand-Laos border in eastern Shan State, on the grounds of online gambling and financial fraud.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the Military Council, said that 689 people were arrested in this raid, through media outlets under the Military Council.

"As the national government, we are actively cooperating with the relevant neighboring countries regarding online gambling and online financial fraud, which affect both the people of Myanmar and other neighboring countries. I would like to say that we will root it out."

Among those arrested are 148 Thai nationals. One Chinese citizen and 540 Myanmar citizens are included.

This farm is about two acres wide and has three two-story buildings. Of these, eight cars A spokesman for the military council said that 120 motorcycles and many computers were obtained.

A local resident of Tachilek told RFA that online money-laundering gangs still exist in Tachilek, and that money-laundering businesses have been shut down due to the arrest of the military council.

"Because of the arrest yesterday, all the online sites stopped. Many of them stopped. If it stops, they will do it again. I can't say anymore. They said that not even the local police, but the police from other districts came to arrest them."

Locals say that online fraud gangs have been operating openly in Tachileik for years. Local authorities said that the local authorities themselves may be involved in these activities.

"They told the boys that they would be forced to serve in the army. The girls were asked to buy each other for 40,000 baht. "

Currently, the military council is planning to force the arrested Myanmar nationals to serve in the military, a local said.

"I was captured in Tachilek. I haven't been released yet. Now the boys are being forced to serve in the army. The girls are being ransomed for 40,000 baht each. There are a lot of tigers, they are in every neighborhood. Mainly in the main streets and alleys."

RFA could not independently confirm these claims. Shan State Spokesperson Economy Minister U Khun Thein Maung was contacted by phone, but there was no response.

As for the military council, 2023 From October 5, 2024 As of February 8, state-run newspapers said on February 9 that more than fifty thousand (50,691) foreigners, including the majority of Chinese nationals who had come and lived illegally from border areas, had been transferred back to their respective countries.

Among those transferred, 48,803 were Chinese nationals. 1071 Vietnamese citizens 537 Thai citizens 133 Malaysians A total of 50,691 people were transferred, including 20 Koreans and 18 Laotians, he said.

Chishan Group: The beginning and end of the investigation of Shandong squid fishing

Ian Urbina, head of "Illegal Ocean Construction"

Companies and fellow journalists were vocal about how we exposed the use of forced labor in China's seafood processing and many other crimes involving Chinese fishing vessels. In response to this request, we produced this video that explains these facts and how we gathered them.

This video focuses on a company called Chain Group for the following three reasons.

First, Chishan Group occupies a special position in the global seafood market. It is the single most important private company in China's squid industry. The company's two subsidiaries, Rongcheng Haibo Seafood and Shandong Haidu Ocean Products, process 30 percent of China's total squid production. Chishan Group also processes 17 percent of US fish imports from China. In addition, the company exports its squid to Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as to Ruggiero Seafood and Marine Relations, major seafood distributors. In turn, many of these companies supply seafood to major food distribution companies such as Performance Foods. The company itself supplies food to more than 300,000 retail outlets.

Second, the Chishan Group is involved in a wide range of seafood: it owns at least 40 fishing vessels belonging to some of China's largest processing facilities and three transport vessels that transport frozen catches to shore.

Third, the Chishan group is really worth a closer look. Because there is increasing evidence that the factories under it are closely related to forced labor in the Xinjiang region, the export of products involving forced labor in Xinjiang to the US and European markets is prohibited.

It is worth noting that several seafood brands such as Wee!, PAFCO and Lund's have already severed ties with some factories belonging to the Chishan Group. For the past year, Haibo and Haidu officials have repeatedly denied that they used forced labor in Xinjiang. Chishan Group chose to remain silent on our questions. Our attempts to contact them are fully documented in the "Discussion" section of our website.

However, the most important point of the problem is that the problem in Chishan Group is not an isolated case. This is because during our investigation we found that many seafood companies are involved in a wide range of issues of the same nature, such as forced labor and illegal fishing. Frankly, the fact that this problem has escalated to such an extent means that it is imperative that the global seafood industry rethinks how it monitors its supply chains, particularly those that pass through China.

So do social audits and marine audits solve this problem? Time will tell us the answer. Unfortunately, many companies, including those belonging to the Chishan Group, rely on such audits to prove that their supply chains are free of forced labor and other crimes such as illegal fishing, but our investigation concluded that they are uniformly tainted by such criminal practices.

Many researchers point out that these types of audits are deeply flawed even when done under the best of circumstances (ie, even when such audits occur in onshore factories in countries other than China). Our current investigation shows that this type of audit work is more prone to fraud when it is carried out on fishing vessels or in factories in China. This is because direct access to information and information sources is strictly controlled in China, and any journalists, labor watchdogs or non-governmental ocean conservation organizations who criticize the Chinese government or Chinese companies are expelled from China.