Myanmar militia arrests and deports hundreds of Chinese scammers

By RFA Burmese2024.11.20

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

An ethnic minority militia in northern Myanmar detained more than 1,000 people suspected of online scamming, the majority of them Chinese nationals, and deported them back to China, a militia official told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.

Online scamming centers have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, especially in some of the more lawless parts of Myanmar, as well as in neighboring Laos and Cambodia.

The centers are often run by Chinese gangs and are notorious for luring unsuspecting people into jobs that entail going online to contact and defraud people, many in China.

Chinese authorities are keen to get the rackets based over the border in Myanmar shut down and so action against them has become a key factor for rival factions in Myanmar, from the junta to its insurgent enemies and other militias, as they vie for China’s favor.

In the northeast Myanmar town of Tangyan, an ethnic minority militia known as the United Wa State Army, or UWSA, detained and deported more than 760 Chinese nationals on Tuesday, Nyi Yan, a representative of a UWSA liaison office, told RFA.

“Our Wa organization in Tangyan arrested more than 1,000 scammers and 762 of them are from China. Yesterday, the Wa transferred them at the border,” he said.

The UWSA is one of Myanmar’s most powerful militias but it has not battled the military for decades. Instead it runs its own mini-state in Shan state that includes various businesses and, international anti-drug agencies say, extensive illegal drug production.

The UWSA emerged in the late 1980s from the remnants of Myanmar’s old community party, with its ranks made up of ethnic minority Wa fighters led by ethnic Chinese commanders. Analysts say the group has always enjoyed good contacts with some authorities over the border in China.

Officials from the Wa army’s justice and foreign affairs departments, as well as Thanyan city representatives, transferred the prisoners to officials from China’s Department of Public Security at a border gate near Myanmar’s Pang Wuan town, along with various internet, communications and computer equipment, Nyi Yan said.

Wa officials interrogated and released Myanmar citizens detained in the crackdown, Nyi Yan said.

The well-armed UWSA has not taken sides in fighting that had engulfed much of Shan state since late last year when a three-party guerrilla alliance went on the offensive against junta forces, capturing numerous military positions, villages and towns.

But while not taking sides, Wa forces have occupied some areas abandoned by the military, including Tangyan, and have deported tens of thousands of Chinese nationals involved in scamming.

But there are still many online scam centers and casinos left, said a resident of Tangyan who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals.

“These days in Tangyan, scammers are getting caught, most in villages captured by the Wa army but there are still some remaining,” said the resident.

“Scammers aren’t just operating in one place anymore. They continue by moving locations.”

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.