According to the Yangtze Evening News, a local newspaper in Jiangsu Province, since last year approximate 50 Chinese teenagers, all of whom were male, have been abducted from the Shanxi Province and taken into Myitkyina, Burma. The kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages if their parents do not pay ransoms, varying from 50,000 to 80,000 yuan (US$ 7,300 – 13,700).
Adolescents from Yuncheng City, Shanxi Provice, have been reported missing since August 2008. Shortly after their disappearances, parents started receiving phone calls demanding ransoms. On Oct. 1, 2008, Zhou Runsheng received such a call. On the phone was his son Dawei, who cried and said that he had been arrested for drug dealing at the China and Burma border. Zhou was then threatened that he had to pay 80,000 yuan to the Buma police in order to save his son’s life.
About a week later, a nearby villager received a brief message from her son. He said, “I am in Myitkyina and I am about to die. If you don’t pay them, I may not live until tomorrow.” Two days later, another two villagers also received threatening calls from Myitkyina, saying, “If you don’t give us the money, we will mail your kid’s fingers to you.”
Most of the parents chose to pay the ransom. The local police of Yunnan were able to rescue a number of victims a few months ago. When they found the hostages, they discovered they had bee subjected to brutal torture. According to one police officer at the scene, the perpetrators had evidently done some truly ghastly things to these kids including sexual mutilation.
A police officer from Yunchen said, “It’s a frequent hassle because we don’t have access or jurisdiction in that area and Myitkyina is controlled by the local militia, not by the Burma government.
According to the Beijing newspaper, Xinjing Bao, a staff member of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said tackling the border related crimes is led by the Ministry of Public Security, so the Foreign Ministry will not take the lead on this,.
According to one official at the Chinese Consular office in Burma, the Chinese military is not likely to cross the border to rescue any hostages. The regime’s failure to act and stop these series of kidnappings has caused anger among many Chinese Internet users. Some people suggested forming a voluntary independent militia to go on a rescue mission to Burma.
Read original article in Chinese.
