They explained that Thailand was a center for human trafficking.
Filipinos, especially attractive young women, are hired to be maids or workers and end up as prostitutes. There is also a lot of drug smuggling, where poor folk are enticed to become mules to deliver drugs to their destinations.
Well, everything cleared, and she flew out last week with her mother to check on the job and housing, and everything was fine.
The background of this is organized crime, and the POGOs, gambling casinos linked to organized crime that were opened 20 years ago despite the warnings by the Catholic bishops, President Arroyo allowed the POGOS as a way to get jobs for locals and money for the government.
According to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), POGOs began operating in 2003 but it was only in 2016, after Duterte came to power, that the government began regulating online gaming hubs.
which brings us to this story I found today on twitter/X:
from AlJezeerah.
In a world exclusive, imprisoned tycoon She Zhijiang shares explosive allegations about Chinese spies and an international criminal conspiracy: https://t.co/mSOn5klXaJ pic.twitter.com/9OYtVyCkmk
— 101 East (@AJ101East) September 27, 2024
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His company, Yatai International Holdings Group (abbreviated Yatai IHG), is registered in Hong Kong and headquartered in Thailand.[2] He became a fugitive in 2012, after fleeing Chinese authorities.[7] In 2014, a Shandong court convicted him of running an illegal lottery business in the Philippines that targeted Chinese online users, and had netted US$298 million in profits.[8]
so convicted in China 2014, but that didn't slow him down.
In 2015, he began building a business in Cambodia, involved in the illicit business of helping Chinese gamblers front-load gambling bets made in Cambodian casinos.[2]
From there, he expanded his business interests to the Philippines and acquired ownership of one of Manila's largest spa and entertainment centers.[2]
the US Institute of Peace (a US Govt think tank) in 2020 posted this report on what was going on in Myanmar.
To circumvent Chinese laws against gambling, ethnic Chinese with citizenship in other countries spearhead these projects.
Of concern to Beijing, they have co-opted Chinese government institutions and agencies to present their activities as central to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
notice that several of these articles mention the Philippines? that is an ongoing scandal here which I have not been following.
But recently, instead of watching soap operas, everyone here is following the Senate hearings on Alice Guo, a fake citizen who became mayor of a small town in Pampanga. that has been linked to casinos and crime (and is near a military base but no spying found...yet).
PhilStar reports (9 25):
n what was supposed to be the final hearing on Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), Guo deviated from her usual responses to assert her innocence—and to hint at a bigger boss.
“Your honor, hindi ako mastermind. Masasabi ko po is isa akong victim (Your honor, I am not a mastermind. I can say that I am a victim) ,” Guo said.
For most of her appearances in the Senate since being detained by Indonesian authorities in September, Guo has typically given one of three responses: she either claims ignorance, invokes her right against self-incrimination or cites a death threat.
Sen. JV Ejercito then asked Guo if she was a pawn of an international criminal syndicate. Guo responded that she was not exactly used, but acknowledged that she has a reputation for being helpful.
This article from the Straits Time Singapore notes connections with organized crime there.
Guo had incorporated the company behind the scam compound, Baofu Land Development, in 2019 with two convicts in Singapore’s $3 billion money laundering case, Chinese nationals Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying.
and ANC notes
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alas, I am not an expert on the Chinese Triad but WIKIPEDIA page discusses their long history
and the liberal Brookings Institute has a long analysis of the relationship between organized crime and the Chinese government
Indeed, these criminal networks provide a variety of services to the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Chinese legal enterprises. They help build networks of corruption and influence among foreign politicians and businesses.
In interviews with Vanda Felbab-Brown, current and former law enforcement officials from the United States, Asia, Australia, and Africa stated that China-linked criminal groups monitor the Chinese diaspora and act as extralegal enforcers on behalf of Chinese authorities against those who speak and act against the Chinese government and CCP. Thus, Chinese government officials often unofficially extend the umbrella of party protection and government authority to these actors.
Hey Donald, instead of worrying about Haitians eating Garfield you need to check out some of the Chinese ethnics entering the USA illegally.
sorry: I accidentally posted it here, but you know, with all of those Chinese investments in Africa, and now that Africans are being recruited to work overseas, I wonder if there is a story about the Chinese triads in Africa too.
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