SHENZHEN police busted a cross-border telecom fraud gang and detained 16 suspects in collaboration with Myanmar’s police recently, according to a case briefing held by Bao’an police, sznews.com reported.

Guantian Police Station in July received a call from a woman surnamed Liu, who claimed she had been swindled out of 14,400 yuan (US$2,183).

Previously, she had seen an advertisement online that promised refunds for doing certain tasks. She followed the instructions and bought several sets of skin care products, but never got any refunds. On Aug. 14, a woman surnamed Li also called the police and said she was cheated out of 138,832 yuan from Aug. 11 to 13 through QQ, an instant messaging service.

After the incidents, Bao’an criminal police brigade immediately carried out an investigation and followed the clues to discover a fraud gang with origins in Fujian. The gang had been settled in Myanmar for a long time, committing frenzied fraud within China every day.

Within a few days, Chinese police had verified the suspects and their dens in Wa State, Myanmar, with the help of local police. On Sept. 30, the special investigation team destroyed six dens, arrested 16 suspects and seized a batch of mobile phones and computers. A preliminary verification showed that the fraud involved 25 cases and more than 800,000 yuan.

On the afternoon of Oct. 3, after 26 hours of sleepless work, the police escorted the 12 suspects back to Shenzhen, and the other four suspects were transferred to the Myanmar police. At present, the case is under further investigation.

According to the relevant details disclosed by Bao’an police, the arrest was full of difficulties. Three batches of policemen were sent to Myanmar, who had to overcome issues such as the weather, insomnia, food and language.

“We had no rest on the way. The roads in Myanmar are rough, all of which are dirt roads. We even passed by landslides and debris flows on our way. Though we usually have a clear division of labor, we all worked together this time. The local weather was so hot, more than 30 degrees Celsius, but the car had no air conditioning. We also had a brigade, which drove all the way from Shenzhen to Myanmar to deliver supplies. It was more than 5,000 kilometers back and forth, which made them extremely tired,” a policeman said.

(Zhang Yu)