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Suspect caught in Myanmar kidnappings case
By Li Xinran |
January 22, 2009, Thursday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
A MAN has been taken into custody and is the first suspect in a kidnapping case that involves illegally keeping Chinese people from northern Shanxi Province in Myanmar.
Zhang, a native of Shanxi's Yuncheng City, was taken into custody yesterday by a police task force, Beijing News reported today.
Zhang was reportedly still a juvenile who allegedly coaxed several youngsters in Yuncheng to go to Myanmar to seek job opportunities.
The youngsters were kidnapped and imprisoned in Maijayang, a town in Myanmar that is famous for its casino industry. Some were possibly tortured by gangs in Myanmar to extort ransom from their parents, the report said.
Some illegal Chinese immigrants from Yuncheng to Myanmar were believed to have taken part in the scheme. They allegedly ran networks to swindle and bring Yuncheng youngsters to Maijayang.
Chinese law enforcement officers banned Chinese citizens, accept for locals living near the border, from crossing into Maijayang. After business dropped, casinos in Maijayang hired loan sharks to bring them more customers from China. They later found it was much easier to kidnap Chinese citizens and extort their families, the report said.
The Myanmar government said it only found out about what was happening after reading reports in the Beijing News. It has launched an investigation, according to a press official at the Myanmar Embassy to China. The official said kidnapping and extortion were prohibited in Myanmar. Myanmar police would crack down on kidnappers together with their Chinese counterparts if necessary, she was cited as saying.
Kachin State, where Maijayang is located, is in northern Myanmar. The area is considered lawless and many casinos in the town were reportedly run by Chinese, the newspaper said.
More than 100 victims are believed to have been kidnapped since January 2008, but the figure was not confirmed by Shanxi police, the newspaper said. Seventeen have been freed. In most of these cases, their Chinese parents paid the ransom demand, the report said.
Beijing News' earlier reports said at least 50 youngsters in Yuncheng had been kidnapped since August and the list of missing people was growing.
Chinese families reportedly have received phone calls from Myanmar demanding ransoms from 40,000 yuan (US$5,847) to 80,000 yuan for their kids, who were heard crying and saying they had been tortured.
The average monthly income for people in Yuncheng is about 800 yuan, the report said.
Callers told parents to pay the ransom into designated bank accounts and told them their children were imprisoned in Maijayang,
Some parents were told to pay immediately otherwise their children would have their skin torn off. Others were told they would receive their children's fingers if they didn't follow instructions, the report said.
A victim told his mother on October 8 that he would be beaten to death if she failed to transfer money that day.
Police in Yuncheng have received dozens of reports but couldn't take action due to jurisdictional problems, the report said.
It is believed that victims were coaxed to the border by kidnappers, who promised they could earn vast sums of money in Myanmar.
After they arrived at the border, it is alleged they were thrown into cages and taken into Myanmar as prisoners, the report said.
Zhang, a native of Shanxi's Yuncheng City, was taken into custody yesterday by a police task force, Beijing News reported today.
Zhang was reportedly still a juvenile who allegedly coaxed several youngsters in Yuncheng to go to Myanmar to seek job opportunities.
The youngsters were kidnapped and imprisoned in Maijayang, a town in Myanmar that is famous for its casino industry. Some were possibly tortured by gangs in Myanmar to extort ransom from their parents, the report said.
Some illegal Chinese immigrants from Yuncheng to Myanmar were believed to have taken part in the scheme. They allegedly ran networks to swindle and bring Yuncheng youngsters to Maijayang.
Chinese law enforcement officers banned Chinese citizens, accept for locals living near the border, from crossing into Maijayang. After business dropped, casinos in Maijayang hired loan sharks to bring them more customers from China. They later found it was much easier to kidnap Chinese citizens and extort their families, the report said.
The Myanmar government said it only found out about what was happening after reading reports in the Beijing News. It has launched an investigation, according to a press official at the Myanmar Embassy to China. The official said kidnapping and extortion were prohibited in Myanmar. Myanmar police would crack down on kidnappers together with their Chinese counterparts if necessary, she was cited as saying.
Kachin State, where Maijayang is located, is in northern Myanmar. The area is considered lawless and many casinos in the town were reportedly run by Chinese, the newspaper said.
More than 100 victims are believed to have been kidnapped since January 2008, but the figure was not confirmed by Shanxi police, the newspaper said. Seventeen have been freed. In most of these cases, their Chinese parents paid the ransom demand, the report said.
Beijing News' earlier reports said at least 50 youngsters in Yuncheng had been kidnapped since August and the list of missing people was growing.
Chinese families reportedly have received phone calls from Myanmar demanding ransoms from 40,000 yuan (US$5,847) to 80,000 yuan for their kids, who were heard crying and saying they had been tortured.
The average monthly income for people in Yuncheng is about 800 yuan, the report said.
Callers told parents to pay the ransom into designated bank accounts and told them their children were imprisoned in Maijayang,
Some parents were told to pay immediately otherwise their children would have their skin torn off. Others were told they would receive their children's fingers if they didn't follow instructions, the report said.
A victim told his mother on October 8 that he would be beaten to death if she failed to transfer money that day.
Police in Yuncheng have received dozens of reports but couldn't take action due to jurisdictional problems, the report said.
It is believed that victims were coaxed to the border by kidnappers, who promised they could earn vast sums of money in Myanmar.
After they arrived at the border, it is alleged they were thrown into cages and taken into Myanmar as prisoners, the report said.
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