Laos sends 268 telecom fraud suspects to China

Laotian law enforcement authorities recently transferred 268 telecom fraud suspects to Chinese police, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The suspects are accused of being involved in more than 1,570 related cases nationwide. Among them, eight people are suspected of being masterminds, and 54 are thought to be key organizers of fraud groups.

Investigations into the cases are ongoing, the ministry said.

The ministry noted that several significant telecom fraud cases are based in provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian. The ministry listed relevant cases that require special oversight and organized local public security organs to conduct in-depth analysis and investigations.

Police found that multiple transnational telecom network groups were operating within Laos and linked them to over 1,000 fraud cases.

In January, the ministry dispatched a working group composed of police officers from public security organs in provincial level regions — including Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, as well as Chongqing, Hunan province and Guangdong province — to Laos to work with the nation's law enforcement authorities. With the support and coordination of China's embassy in Laos, significant progress was soon made in the investigation of the cases, it said.

On Jan 21, law enforcement authorities in Laos, with the support of the working group, cracked down on multiple fraud dens within Laos, successfully arresting 154 fraud suspects and seizing over 2,000 mobile phones and more than 400 computers.

Subsequently, based on the case leads provided by the working group, police in Laos successively apprehended another 114 suspects involved in fraud in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, and Luang Prabang.