This article is an original article for the magazine "Fang Yuan"

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"What do you rent a boat for?"

"Smuggling. Recruited hundreds of people to work in Cambodia."

"Where did the 1.2 million yuan for renting a ship come from?"

"This is the activity funds transferred by overseas telecom fraud groups."

This is the Procuratorate of Longgang City, Zhejiang Province

Prosecutor Zhou Xiaosong

Submitted for trial at the detention center in the city

A dialogue with Zhu Dawei, a member of the "Red Communication Personnel"

Zhu Dawei

Tianjin native, 52 years old

Previously committed the crime of illegal business operations

Crime of transporting drugs

Sentenced to a total of seventeen years of imprisonment

After serving his sentence and being released in March 2018

He has passed the age of destiny

I have always wanted to do something great

But suffer from the lack of opportunities

A chance encounter

He joined an overseas telecommunications fraud group

Smuggling people for them

Let's go to Cambodia to "hunt for gold"

19-year-old Liu Junjun comes from Beihai City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. After graduating from high school, he clicked on an advertisement on a recruitment website and found that there was a job as an overseas financial operator that was very suitable for him, with a monthly salary of 20000 to 30000 yuan.

Liu Junjun contacted the recruiters. The other party told Liu Junjun that they are doing e-commerce in Cambodia.

"Let's go to Cambodia to 'gold mine'!" Liu Junjun was moved by the other party's words. Liu Junjun is preparing to embark on a "gold rush" to Cambodia.

Liu Junjun's phone was taken away by the other party before he tossed and turned and boarded a ship. The other party stated that they first need to take a boat to illegally cross to the open sea or high seas, and then take a large boat to Cambodia. Currently, the cost of illegal crossing does not need to be borne by Liu Junjun, but will be advanced by the people in Cambodia. Later, Liu Junjun will work for Cambodian employers to earn money and gradually repay it.

Liu Junjun, who boarded the ship, found that there were many people like him who were easily seduced by the portrayal of "money scenes". They nestled on such "black ships" and rushed to the so-called "dream of wealth"

This dream was shattered on the early morning of May 23, 2021, when a major multinational illegal immigration gang was arrested by the public security organs near the Dongcang Port in Zhanjiang, Guangzhou. Dozens of illegal immigrants, including Liu Junjun, who had not yet escaped, were also stopped at the scene. Originally, these people led by Zhu Dawei were a major transnational smuggling gang.

On the early morning of May 23, 2021, a multinational smuggling gang was arrested by the public security organs near the Dongcang Port in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. (Source: Information images)

I spent 1.2 million yuan to rent a ship

In early May 2021, in order to operate the illegal immigration task entrusted to him by the overseas fraud group, Zhu Dawei instructed his fellow inmates Wang Jiang and others to travel to Ningde, Fujian, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Zhejiang and other places to search for large ships transporting illegal immigrants to Cambodia.

"The ship needed to be large and able to cross oceans, and it wasn't until the third inspection that the two sides reached an agreement to rent a large ship for 1.2 million yuan. Based on past experience, Zhu Dawei obtained some ship information through a" black intermediary "in Cambodia and immediately asked Wang Jiang and others to contact and inspect the ship.".

After renting the ship, Zhu Dawei commanded it to sail south and began his illegal immigration business. The internal division of labor within the illegal immigration gang is clear, the means of committing crimes are covert, and the anti investigation awareness is extremely strong. The ringleader Zhu Dawei is extremely cunning, using illegal channels such as underground banks to transfer funds to China as illegal immigration funds, and remotely commanding others through phone or WeChat to organize and plan illegal immigration routes, recruit illegal immigrants, and recruit crew members at a high price of 270000 yuan, attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants to Cambodia through the sea to engage in illegal activities such as telecommunications and network fraud.

After everything is ready, the illegal immigration group will sail to the designated sea area to wait and pick up the illegal immigrants to board the ship.

To prevent maritime police from shutting down equipment

Zheng Da and others are specifically responsible for piloting small boats to transport illegal immigrants. There is a dedicated person on the shore to guide illegal immigrants to Zheng Da's speedboat. A speedboat can accommodate about 10 people. According to the coordinates such as longitude and latitude provided by Zhu Dawei, Zheng Da piloted a small boat towards the open sea. After about an hour and a half, he saw a large ship.

Zheng Da parked the speedboat next to the big ship, lowered the rope ladder, and the people on the speedboat began to climb up.

In order to prevent being detected by the maritime police, Zheng Da and others also turned off the AIS (Automatic Identification System for Ships) on the speedboat, because if the AIS equipment was turned on, the maritime police could obtain information about people sailing to the open sea at night.

Zheng Da and others are well aware of the illegal immigration incident, but each person can charge a fee of 65000 yuan for one shipment, which is much higher than usual. Zheng Da didn't ask much.

On the large ship, there are six dedicated ship owners and sailors. These people knew it was smuggling or illegal immigration, but they still agreed because of the high salary promised by Zhu Dawei.

It takes about 8 to 10 days from the dock to Cambodia, and the affairs on the ship are handled by these six people. Each person can earn around 6000 yuan for a trip of work.

On the night of the ship's departure, someone told them that the ship was supposed to transport people to Cambodia, but there was no need to go to Cambodian waters. When it arrived on the open sea, a ship would come to Cambodia to pick it up. In the evening, fast boats were gradually transporting young people who had illegally crossed the ship. The sailors on board put down the soft ladder, pulled them, and guided them into the cabin.

The procuratorial organs actively guide the investigation

In Longgang City, Zhejiang Province, a group of outsiders claimed to be traveling and rented a boat from local fishermen for a high price of 1.2 million yuan. This strange incident was discovered and reported by the local people. After analysis and judgment, the public security organs have laid a "sky and earth net" at the Zhanjiang Port in Guangdong.

On the early morning of May 23, 2021, seven main members of the gang, including Wang Tianjiang, Wang Wenzhen, and Wang Ruoyi, were arrested by the public security organs near the Dongcang Port in Zhanjiang. More than 47 illegal immigrants who had not yet escaped were also stopped at the scene.

After the incident, Zhu Dawei immediately ordered the ship owner and others to flee in a hurry. A few days later, when Zhu Dawei arranged for seven other people to go to the waters near Shantou, Guangdong to organize dozens of people to illegally cross again, he was caught by the public security officers waiting at the Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang.

In early September 2021, clues to the case of Zhu Dawei suspected of organizing others to illegally cross the national border were once again discovered. In the end, 15 other accomplices (all dealt with separately) and 76 illegal immigrants were arrested on the scene.

The case of illegally crossing the national border (frontier) involves dozens of suspect and many people who have illegally crossed the border. (Source: Information images)

As time passed, two branches of Zhu Dawei's transnational smuggling gang were dismantled one by one, but the entire criminal chain was not truly cut off. The behind the scenes boss Zhu Dawei continued to recruit and organize others to illegally cross the national border.

In June 2021, the International Criminal Police Organization issued a red wanted notice for Zhu Dawei. In July 2022, Zhu Dawei was detained by Thai police and escorted back to his home country on July 25th when he entered Thailand by plane from Laos due to his identity as a "Red Tong". On September 20 of the same year, the case was transferred to the Longgang City Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province for examination and prosecution.

During the review and prosecution process, due to the large number of individuals involved in the case and the spread of illegal immigrants throughout the country, which had a significant social impact, Zhou Xiaosong, the director and post prosecutor of the First Procuratorate Department of Longgang City Procuratorate, actively followed up and guided the investigation during the investigation stage, issuing a supplementary investigation outline to the public security organs.

"We extracted the bank transfer records and the smuggling gang's transfer of charter, transportation and other costs for mutual verification, comprehensively recovered and fixed the electronic data such as the chat records in the suspect's mobile phone, and used objective evidence to prove the illegality of the source of funds and the subjective intentions of each suspect, laying a good foundation for the subsequent handling of the case." Zhou Xiaosong told the reporter of "Fangyuan".

"According to the suspect's different subjective cognition and objective behavior, it is more appropriate to identify it as the crime of organizing others to illegally cross the national border (frontier) and the crime of transporting others to illegally cross the national border (frontier)." Zhou Xiaosong, combining his judicial experience in handling cases, analyzed in detail the means and characteristics of this cross-border smuggling gang and the basis for conviction.

The collapse of a major illegal immigration gang

"In May and September 2021, the defendant Zhu Dawei, together with others, planned and organized hundreds of illegal immigrants to travel to Cambodia by boat twice in Cambodia, but due to reasons beyond his will, the illegal immigration was not successful." According to Zhou Xiaosong, Zhu Dawei organized various ways to lure others to illegally cross the country, and planned illegal immigration routes, purchased illegal immigration ships, recruited crew members, and collected illegal immigration fees for the illegal immigrants Arrange illegal immigration personnel to board the ship, so that scattered illegal immigration personnel from various regions gather and then concentrate on illegal immigration. The criminal characteristics of the criminal gang organizing others to illegally cross the national (border) border are obvious, the facts of the crime are clear, and the evidence is indeed sufficient. They should be held criminally responsible for the crime of organizing others to illegally cross the national (border). The suspect Zhu Dawei, who is an organizer and planner, should be identified as the principal in a joint crime.

"Zhu Dawei is still a recidivist, and organized others to illegally cross the border twice during the epidemic prevention and control period, with a large number of people. The personnel organized by him went to Cambodia to provide them with free board and lodging. According to the testimony of the relevant smugglers, it was confirmed that he went to Cambodia to engage in illegal and criminal activities related to telecom network fraud, and his behavior was very subjective and vicious, with great social harm, and should be severely punished. The suspect Zhu Dawei organized the smuggling Organizations and planners at the border should be punished for all crimes planned by their organization. Although it is an attempt, the sentencing should not be too lenient Zhou Xiaosong said.

After being prosecuted by the Longgang City Procuratorate, from August 2022 to March 2023, the Longgang City Court sentenced Zhu Dawei and 7 others to imprisonment ranging from 11 years and 6 months to 2 years and 6 months for the crime of organizing others to illegally cross the national (border) border, and 11 others, including the ship owner, to imprisonment ranging from 2 years and 6 months to 1 year and 10 months for the crime of transporting others to illegally cross the national (border) border. At this point, a total of 33 individuals, led by Zhu Dawei, have been convicted of illegal immigration in a major transnational organization.

(The individuals involved in the case in the article are all pseudonyms. This article has been edited, please pay attention to the first issue of "Fang Yuan" in July for more content.)

The original title of this article magazine was "The Real Purpose of Spending 1.2 million yuan on Renting a Ship"

Editor | Su Chen, Wang Li, Design | Liu Yan

Reporter | Liu Ya

Correspondent | Zhang Jie, Chen Liangmeng