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Bringing 'Godfather' to justice

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It never occurred to the 13 Chinese crew members on the cargo ships of Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8 that they would lose their lives for refusing to pay "protection money" to a drug lord nicknamed "Godfather."

Bringing "Godfather" to justice.[File photo]

On Oct. 5, 2011, the two ships with the crew members onboard traveled downstream on the Mekong River near the Chiang Saen port in Thailand. The ships were escorted by two unidentified speedboats.

Shortly after berthing, gunshots were heard on the ships. These shots were followed by nearby Thai soldiers shooting at the two ships with machine guns, submachine guns and rifles, according to witnesses.

Dubious deaths

The Thai soldiers boarded the ships and alleged they seized guns and drugs on the vessels.

Local media alleged that the two Chinese ships were drug trafficking and the military found armed crew on the boats and opened fire on them. The crew members were killed and fell into the river.

However, corpses found in the river were blindfolded and some of the bodies' hands were tied and handcuffed. Some bodies had dozens of shot wounds.

Doubts were raised as to whether the brutalities were from a drug raid.

After being informed of the case, the provincial police in southwest China's Yunnan Province immediately sent a working team to investigate along the river. The team got witness testimony that armed men in black were onboard the Chinese ships and escaped on speedboats before the Thai soldiers had arrived.

On Oct. 23, China's Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu arrived in Yunnan to guide the investigation. Another delegation headed by Vice Minister of Public Security Zhang Xinfeng visited Thailand to get further information about the case and urged Thai police to solve the case as quickly as possible.

No more than one month after the incident, a special team was set up to help with the investigation. It consisted of police from the Ministry of Public Security as well as provincial, prefectural and county-level police authorities.

However, the mission was made harder because the scene of the crime, the "Golden Triangle," is outside of China and the suspects were believed to be foreigners. The "Golden Triangle" is a region known for its drug trafficking.

With a length of almost 5,000 km, the Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang River, is one of the most important waterways in southeast Asia, linking the countries of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

However, the troubled "Golden Triangle" region along the river is in a state of anarchy with military forces, police, local armed forces and criminal gangs.

Identifying suspects

In late October, China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand agreed to take joint action to crack down on cross-border crime and secure transportation along the Mekong River, after a meeting attended by Meng and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Kowit Wattana, Laotian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Douangchay Phichit and Myanmar's Minister of Home Affairs Ko Ko.

The four countries agreed to share intelligence and organize joint patrols.

At the meeting, it was clarified that the Chinese crew members were innocent with no link to illegal activities.

Two months after the attack, the four countries started their first joint patrol in the Mekong waters to escort plying ships.

Meanwhile, the Chinese investigation team members agreed that identifying the men in black was a priority. A drug ring led by Naw Kham, a notorious drug lord nicknamed "godfather" in the region, became the top suspect.

Naw Kham's gang was believed to be responsible for a large number of cases of manslaughter, looting, armed drug trafficking, charging "protection money" and kidnapping.

An interrogation of a gang member indicated that Yi Lai, the gang's No. 3 chief had once mentioned the group's involvement in the Oct. 5 murders.

In mid-December, Yi Lai was arrested during cooperative action by the Chinese and Laotian police. He confessed that Naw Kham and other gang members had conspired with some renegade Thai soldiers to commit the murders.

Hunting down Naw Kham

After discovering that Naw Kham was hiding in a village in Laos's Boqiao province, Chinese and Laotian police searched the village on Dec. 6, finding one of the ringleader's mistresses, ammunition and narcotics. However, the head of the village prohibited them from searching as night fell, leaving Naw Kham to escape to Myanmar during the night.

However, police later found the leader's new enclave: a location hidden deep in the forests of Myanmar, protected by armed guards and land mines. Although police attempted to extract him from his hideout, Naw Kham still managed to evade arrest.

The manhunt was effectively mired until Hsang Kham, the gang's second-in-command, was detained on April 20. Police interrogated him to obtain Naw Kham's latest whereabouts.

"We changed our tactics this time," said Liu Yuejin, leader of the police team set up to crack the case. "We kept the mission secret and ordered the arrest at the last minute."

In the meantime, China pushed Myanmar to make greater efforts to hunt down the gangs, resulting in Naw Kham re-entering Laos. Police stationed at the border captured Naw Kham and two gang members after they went ashore on April 25.

On May 10, after half a month of negotiations, Naw Kham was officially transferred to Chinese police by Laos authorities.

Naw Kham's gang was also broken up, with several members involved in the attack captured by police, including Weng Mie, the gang's fourth-in-command.

In July, Meng Jianzhu visited Thailand, Laos and Myanmar and reached a consensus with the leaders of the three countries on investigating the case and strengthening cooperation in law enforcement.

On Aug. 28, Weng Mie was transferred to Chinese police as agreed upon by Chinese and Myanmar authorities. The confessions he and other gang members offered helped police piece together the case.

The criminals said several Chinese vessels had traveled along the Mekong River without paying protection fees to Naw Kham. He notified the captains of the Huaping and Yuxing 8 vessels about his displeasure regarding the fees, but the captains refused to speak with him.

Several of Naw Kham's subordinates subsequently colluded with Thai soldiers to mastermind an attack on the vessels, planning to hijack the boats and kill the sailors, as well as blame the Chinese sailors for instigating a fight between them, thereby allowing the soldiers to escape punishment.

On Oct. 4, 2011, the gang members began tracking the two vessels, attacking them the next day and planting a large amount of amphetamine on the boats.

After the criminals directed the vessels to a predetermined location, Weng Mie and other gang members herded the sailors together and gunned them down. Thai soldiers then fired at the two vessels and dumped the bodies of the sailors into the water.

Xian Yanming, vice director of the Yunnan provincial Public Security Bureau and a member of the murder case team, said the murder happened overseas, all the suspects were foreigners who have long committed crimes in the tumultuous Golden Triangle Region, and all related investigations, intelligence gathering, evidence collection and arrests were carried out outside China.

"It is by far the most complicated criminal case Chinese policemen have ever handled," Liu said.

Meng Sutie, police chief of Yunnan province, said threats against Chinese citizens traveling overseas are mounting, adding that the handling of the case demonstrates China's determination to keep its citizens safe in foreign countries.

Naw Kham and other core members of his gang will stand trial Thursday at the Intermediate People's Court of Yunnan's capital of Kunming.

They will be charged with intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and ship hijacking by the Kunming People's Procuratorate.

"I believe the trial will be a comfort for my father," said the son of Qiu Jiahai, one of the murdered sailors.