In 2022 crime in Asia became even more apparent as a regional cross border issue. This quick look back at major crime stories and issues in Asia in 2022 is a reflection to prepare us for what is likely to come in 2023.
Myanmar is the stand out problem country in the region as the military government has tolerated, or encouraged, the expansion of organised criminal groups operating illegal casinos, online gambling, online sex services, online fraud, people trafficking and related slavery. This is truly the promotion of human misery from crime.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) consequently listed Myanmar as a ‘high risk’ country for financial crime and terrorist financing, alongside Iran and North Korea. It is interesting that all three of the world’s high risk countries for financial crime and terrorist financing are effectively client states of the People’s Republic of China.
That brings us to the other major conduit for the spread of transnational organised crime in Asia (and indeed beyond the region), which is the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI). China has promoted the BRI for the past decade, but as China’s overseas economic footprint has grown, Chinese organised crime groups have also expanded their activities to become a regional problem.
China
Online fraud has been a particular concern for the Chinese authorities due to its massive scale. The enforcement numbers published by the Chinese authorities are always somewhat staggering, but worth reading and trying to understand. By November, the Ministry of Public Security reported that the authorities had “solved” 391,000 cases of telecom and online fraud, total arrests had increased by over 64% from 2021, and they had arrested 240 leaders of related criminal groups. The multi-pronged government effort against the huge problem of online fraud also involved the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that disposed of 110 million high-risk phone SIM cards involved in fraud, intercepted 1.82 billion fraudulent calls and 2.15 billion short messages. The authorities also released more than 9,330 educational videos, which have been played more than 5 billion times. When the authorities in China crackdown, they really do take effective and widespread action.
Chinese criminals learnt how to conduct massive fraud and online scams from Taiwan. From the early 2000s, Taiwanese lottery frauds spread to Mainland China. These usually involved criminals informing lottery card buyers that they had won a special prize but had to pay a tax as an advance fee before collecting their winnings. These frauds spread from Taiwan to Hong Kong, and then to Mainland China.
In the past few years, more of the Chinese criminals groups engaged in online frauds have spread to other parts of Asia. Increasing levels of organized crime activity are apparent in countries across Asia where expanding Chinese expatriate communities are part of the PRC’s economic expansion across the region. The most notable locations are Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Although Chinese organized crime groups have spread across Asia, most of their victims and targets of their criminal activities are within the borders of China.
India
In India the synergies between organised crime and terrorist groups have been most apparent over the past several decades. In August, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN stated publicly that links between terrorism and organised crime need to be addressed. She told the UN Security Council that “In India, we have had first-hand experience of crime syndicates venturing into terrorism and immediately thereafter getting state hospitality in a neighbouring country despite being listed under the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee.” The value of criminal enterprises to terrorists is illustrated in use of financial crime, which she highlighted as “The continued increase in the use of new technologies to move and store funds, including virtual assets, online exchanges and wallets, privacy coins (EACs) and potential misuse of dual-use technologies”.
The most infamous example of links between organised crime and terrorism in India is Dawood Ibrahim, head of the ‘D-Company’ criminal organisation and linked to the organisation of the 1993 bomb attacks in Mumbai. D-Company was feared for extorting money from celebrities and gun crime, but it’s power has waned in recent years after concerted police action and their activities confined to extorting money from people involved in land and property disputes. But Dawood Ibrahim remains a fugitive, probably hiding safely in Pakistan and still of potential use to terrorist groups.
Indonesia
Despite being a Muslim state with zero tolerance for illegal drugs, Indonesia continues to report problems. The National Narcotics Agency reported that during the year it had discovered 49 local and international drug networks in the country. The agency uncovered two drugs laboratories, and seized almost two tons of methamphetamine, over a ton of marijuana, 262,789 ecstasy pills, and 16.5 kilograms of ecstasy in powder form. As Indonesia is a huge archipelago, maritime smuggling is the usual means used by drug traffickers.
Japan
The complexity of organised crime was illustrated in Tokyo in December, when the police were called to break up a fight in a restaurant on the 58th floor of the Sunshine 60 tower, a Tokyo high rise building, involving around 100 customers who are suspected to be members of a group with links to organized crime. Those involved in the fight were reportedly members of ‘Chinese Dragon’, a gang comprised primarily of second- and third-generation descendants of Japanese orphans left behind in China when Japan withdrew from the country at the end of World War II. They were attending the function to celebrate the release from prison of one of their members.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, in December police in Osaka arrested a 28-year-old unemployed man for breaking into a 36-year-old woman’s home, stealing her underwear, then setting fire to her house two days later. The man broke into the women’s house through the toilet window between 2 and 5am and stole 14 items of underwear. On 27 December, the man returned to the house, placed a tire at the front door and set it on fire. The woman and her two children, who had been asleep, escaped safely before the fire destroyed the wooden house. The man also told police he had stolen underwear from other women’s homes in the past.
Malaysia
Crime in Malaysia in 2022 was not only domestic but also imported from overseas. During the year 110 Malaysians were rescued from overseas job scam syndicates, which advertise high paid jobs and lure victims into taking part in online frauds or sexual services.
In December, the High Court awarded the family of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a murdered Mongolian model, RM5 million (US$1 million) for her death in 2006. Ms Altantuya was murdered in October 2006, her body was blown up with military-grade explosives, and two men (one a former Malaysian police officer) were found guilty of her murder and sentenced to death in 2009. Mr Abdul Razak, a former aide to then deputy prime minister Najib Razak, was charged with abetting the duo, but later acquitted.
In October, it was revealed that Mossad (the Israeli intelligence service) had conducted an operation to abduct two Palestinians in Kuala Lumpur. Mossad agents recruited local Malaysians to assist them in the abduction of two Palestinians who were allegedly connected to Hamas. They only managed to abduct one of the Palestinians, and the other escaped to make a report to the police who later raided a property in Selangor where they found Mossad agents debriefing their victim.
In April, businessman Datuk Seri Nicky Liow Soon Hee, leader of the "Nicky Gang", was charged with money laundering involving over RM36 million (US$8 million). Liow is reported to head an organised crime syndicate that conducted crimes in Malaysia and was also involved in illegal moneylending, investment scams and drug trafficking. Liow was also reportedly connected to infamous Macau 14K Triad leader Wan Kuok Kui (aka ‘Broken Tooth’), who in 2021 was suspected to be hiding in Malaysia.
Myanmar
The corruption of the government in Myanmar was apparent as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) listed the country on its blacklist of ‘high risk’ countries for financial crime, which requires enhanced due diligence by member states. The FATF decision is largely due to concerns regarding illegal casinos, online gambling (often from the casinos), and illicit cross-border trade (notably the export of synthetic drugs), which have worsened since the military regained power in February 2021. The three countries listed by the FATF as high risk are Myanmar, Iran, and North Korea.
Myanmar seems to be surviving with the assistance of investors from China, who are unconcerned about anything that the FATF has to say about financial crime. Chinese companies and investors are reported to be working with the military in Myanmar to secure infrastructure projects, with access to the Indian Ocean being their key priority illustrated by the project to develop a deep sea port in Kyaukphyu that is a link in China’s ‘Belt and Road’ strategy. Chinese companies also continue to operate in the Myanmar energy markets as the country has abundant hydropower and natural gas.
What was certainly not financial crime or corruption in Myanmar were the activities of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who in December, was convicted of five counts of corruption imprisoned for seven more years, in addition to the 26 years that she has already been sentenced to serve. The charges relate to leasing her government helicopter, incitement, breaches of COVID-19 restrictions, illegally owning radio equipment, violating a state secrets law, multiple counts of corruption and trying to influence election officials, all of which she has dismissed as "absurd".
Singapore
The Asia-wide boom in online fraud and scams during 2022 was apparent in Singapore. In December, 311 men and 133 women were being investigated for suspected involvement in over 1,400 cases of frauds as scammers or money mules, which resulted in victims losing over SG$15.7 million (US$11.7). The suspects were involved in scams involving phishing, loans, jobs, e-commerce, as well as impersonation of Singapore and China government officials.
South Korea
Although Korea is best known for its TV and movie crime dramas and the country is regarded as a safe place to live and visit, there is an underbelly of crime that is arousing greater concerns. Korea is considered to be a male dominated society where the rights and protection of women, including from crime, are being called into question. In September a young Korean woman was murdered by a man who already had a restraining order against him, which has fuelled fears that government and society does not sufficiently address stalking crimes and violence against women.
The question of whether the problem is one of a failure to protect women is highlighted by a university student who investigated a network of online chatrooms where thousands of men pay for access to photos and videos of women and girls, some as young as 12, coerced into performing sexually explicit acts. Human Rights Watch has reported the widespread posting of sexual images of women and girls in South Korea, which has been called a “spy camera epidemic.”
Thailand
Thailand has long been home to a large Chinese diaspora, including a major Chiu Chow community that has embraced Thai nationality and culture. As well as being home to Chinese traders for many generations, Thailand is also home to Chinese criminals who often have links to Thai officials.
In November, Thai police and officials at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board seized the assets of alleged drug kingpin Mr Chaiyanat Kornchayanant (aka ‘Du Hao’) who was arrested earlier by police on charges linked to the sale and distribution of narcotics. His wife is a serving Thai police colonel, illustrating the links between organised crime and the authorities.
The Thai police also reported in November that huge amounts of drug money from Chinese criminal cartels linked with the Golden triangle are being funnelled in to buy up properties in Thailand including whole phases of new developments by using forged Thai identity documents based on real people. The police allege that Chinese criminals linked with the Golden Triangle drugs trade have been settling in Thailand since the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of more comprehensive surveillance in China, which indicates how there is a displacement of Chinese organised crime to other parts of Asia.
Vietnam
Vietnam is less likely to be susceptible to the expansion of Chinese organised crime groups due to the caution towards their larger neighbour, but the country is a hub for certain criminality. Vietnam is reported to be a major hub for wildlife trafficking, notably rhinoceros and tigers, due to its globalised, export-driven economy with extensive trade links. Vietnamese criminal networks have been reported to be involved in the poaching of at least 18 000 elephants, 111,000 pangolins and nearly 1,000 rhinoceroses since 2010, with few prosecutions.