How hard is it for young people who have been tricked into coming to Myanmar to return home? You have to beat 5 levels

Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau

Scams continue to be banned, how difficult is the road home

The road back from Kokang Old Street is not long, but there are 5 checkpoints, controlled by different armed forces

There are more than 100 families in the "deceived group", and only two families have successfully returned to China

Reporter Wu Yue Shang Zeyang Text/Photo

The border areas of Myanmar have long been entrenched in telecommunications network fraud gangs, and our country continues to crack down harshly. Under high pressure, high salaries have lured Chinese citizens to Myanmar to engage in telecommunications network fraud, which is still repeatedly prohibited.

Recently, young people from several families have been tricked into going to Myanmar. Anxious parents rushed from all over the world to Zhenkang County, Yunnan on the border of China and Myanmar, and climbed to the top of the mountain in Thorn Tree Yakou Village to overlook, where you can directly see the old street of Kokang, where their children are trapped.

From Kokang Old Street in Myanmar to Zhenkang County, the straight-line distance is only 10 kilometers. But for the trapped and these families looking for their children, it is an insurmountable distance. After receiving the help, this reporter also rushed to Yunnan in early May to record the "waiting on the border line" (see the second page of this newspaper yesterday for details).

How can a child who is close at hand get home? What is the biggest difficulty on the road to returning home?

Waiting on Yong'an Road in Zhenkang County

"Can't wait for the child

I won't go back."

Yong'an Road, where the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau is located, is connected to the South Umbrella Bus Station. On both sides of this two-way driveway, which is about a 10-minute walk, there are dozens of hotels. Several hotel owners said that two types of tenants, family searchers and police officers from outside the country accounted for the main shares. Some stayed for two weeks and left, while others have stayed for more than twenty days.

Nanchuan Town, where Zhenkang County is located, is adjacent to Kokang, the hardest hit area of telecom fraud in Myanmar, and there is a saying that "Nanumbrella Kokang is a bridge, buy vegetables and gather a street". It is precisely for this reason that many families trapped in Kokang Old Street because of their children will wait here for the Chinese and Myanmar police to assist in the investigation and rescue.

Wang Juan (pseudonym), a migrant worker in Zhejiang, is one of the parents who traveled thousands of miles to live in a nearby hotel. The child was missing for half a month, and every morning, she sat at the door of the criminal investigation brigade of the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau waiting for news. The reporter met her for two days in a row, she did not change her clothes, her dark skin was red and bloodshot, and her eyes revealed tiredness. Early on the morning of May 5, Wang Juan sent a message to reporters: The child sent a message to report that he was safe and was still waiting for the police to make progress.

Wang Juan told reporters that two parents, also from Zhejiang, had gone back after staying for five or six days without progress. Wang Juan's husband also went home first to raise money, afraid that the other company's money would ransom people. Every day, she asked the Criminal Investigation Brigade whether there was an update on the progress of the Myanmar police.

At the entrance of the criminal investigation brigade of the county public security bureau that day, there were four or five parents waiting. They arrived from Kardze in Sichuan, Kunming in Yunnan, and Jinan in Shandong, and their children were lured by well-paid jobs and were only recently smuggled to Kokang Old Street. Li Chengda (pseudonym), a parent from a northern province, waited for more than 10 days, finally waiting for the latest news, and is already negotiating with the company.

The hotel owners on Yong'an Road have become accustomed to this, "In the past few days, some Shandong tenants have stayed for three days and brought their children back, and some tenants have not been heard from for more than 2018 consecutive days." Owner Cao of Yushun Hotel began to notice around <> that "parents come every month".

Boss Cao told reporters that tears fell when he saw them on the phone, "The children must be anxious if they are deceived, and I told them that the room was 80 yuan per night, 10 yuan less." "Some parents simply live on a monthly basis, and Boss Cao only charges them 20 yuan a day.

"It's been half a month since I came, and I won't go back until I can't wait for the child." Wang Juan, who lives in the hotel, is increasingly anxious. She said: "Stay here at least a little closer to the child, what can I do when you say I go back?" ”

The confusion of the top of the thorn tree Yakou Village

"Children so close to the country

When will I be home?"

In the middle of the night, the child sent a distress message from Kokang Old Street. Huang Jian (pseudonym) was in a hurry, and he and his wife drove almost a day and night from their hometown in Sichuan for more than 1600,<> kilometers along the mountain road and across the Jinsha River, before arriving at the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau.

After Huang Jian called the police, he heard from the owner of the hotel who stayed that when he climbed to the top of the mountain of Thorn Tree Yakou Village, he could directly see the Kokang Old Street where the child was trapped.

Ignoring his messy hair and dusty servants, he immediately went to the top of the mountain.

Huang Jianxiang, who is in his 50s, has a strong voice and is not fluent in Mandarin.

Using a video call with his child in April, he took a screenshot of the surrounding scene where the child is currently trapped, and the names of hospitals and shops are clearly visible in the screenshots.

The first thing Huang Jian did after coming out of the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau was to trouble the Kokang relatives of the hotel owner to use a map to look at the hospital in the screenshot.

He was sure that the child was trapped in the Kokang Old Street district, which was clearly visible from the thorn tree Yakou Village.

At that moment, countless thoughts welled up in his mind - there was joy, so close, it was convenient for the Myanmar police to send the child back; There was an expectation that the locals of Zhenkang County would always have relatives who were officials in Kokang Old Street who could help get the children out...

The next morning, Huang Jian came to the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau to inquire about the progress. He saw Captain Yang of the Criminal Police Brigade communicating with parents. Parents raised a lot of confusion, "Can you urge again, there has been no news since the letter of investigation was sent", "The top of the mountain can overlook the whole picture of Kokang Old Street, when will the children who are so close to the gate of the country go home?" ”

The difficulty of "returning home" from northern Myanmar

The road is not long, but there are 5 levels

Controlled by different armed forces

Huang Jian said that when he first came to Zhenkang County, he thought very simply, they had all the formalities, thinking that sending a letter of assistance to the Myanmar police would save people, but after a while, he found that it was not so easy.

"Captain Yang told us that although the road from Kokang Old Street to Guomen is not long, there are 5 checkpoints, each controlled by different armed forces, and even if the child finds it, it will take time to communicate with all forces before it can be released." After listening to it, parents learned that the rescue of their children had to rely on the active cooperation of the Myanmar police, and no one could say how much time it would take.

The young man, Zeng Kai (pseudonym), has just been sent back to China. His statement was consistent with Captain Yang's, and he had to go through 5 checkpoints when he returned to the South Umbrella Port: 3 checkpoints from Kokang Old Street to Yanglongzhai, and 2 checkpoints from Yanglongzhai to Guomen. At each checkpoint, barbed wire barbed in the middle of the road is guarded by gun-wielding soldiers.

Zeng Kai said that he was deceived by netizens to Yunnan, and there were 4 companions. They climbed through holes in the barbed wire fence along the border and smuggled into Myanmar, and others have been required to "work" in so-called companies. After being detained in the dormitory for more than 10 days, he was sent to the Kokang Old Street Criminal Investigation Brigade, and with the assistance of the domestic police, he was sent back to the country by the Northern Myanmar Bureau of Justice. His father speculated that his son was too honest and unspeakable to "use telecom network fraud."

Also fortunate to be sent back to China was Wang Jie (pseudonym), who was less than 18 years old and returned from Myanmar on May 5. He and a friend quarreled with the director of the "company", the friend's hand was broken, they fled to the property belonging to the company's office building for help, and the property director took them to the police station and was rescued.

In the past few days, the news of children sent back from Myanmar has boosted the confidence of many families looking for children. However, in this WeChat group of deceived parents in Myanmar made up of more than 100 families, only two families have successfully returned to China.

Every victim who returns home has had an unusual experience. The only thing that is the same is that once caught in the Myanmar telecom network fraud gang, there are heavy gunmen guarding each floor and downstairs of the office building, and only a few can escape on their own, and more need to rely on the government to jointly rescue.

"From a certain period of time, China, Myanmar and Thailand (joint law enforcement operations of the three countries) will stay more at the level of police cooperation." Bao Zhipeng, an expert on Myanmar at the China Institute of International Studies, told this reporter that although China has done a lot of work, those engaged in online gambling and telecommunications fraud who are persuaded to return to northern Myanmar need Myanmar's full support and cooperation, otherwise the effect of the crackdown will be greatly affected.

What kind of interest chain is hidden behind Myanmar's "high-paid migrant workers"? What did the child-seeking family go through to find their child? This newspaper will continue to pay attention.