Narcotics trafficking on the rise among Mongolians

The following is an interview with Ambassador of Mongolia to China Ts. Sukhbaatar about citizens of Mongolia who have been arrested and detained in China for narcotic’s crimes.

-Many citizens of Mongolia have been detained in China. How many are there?

-Currently there are over 120 Mongolian citizens who have been arrested or detained in Central China, Hong Kong, and Macao.

-The majority of these Mongolians are suspects in narcotic cases. How are the cases progressing?

-The number of Mongolian suspects has rapidly increased. There are 34 detained citizens in Central China, not counting the citizens in Hong Kong and Macao. This is a high amount. According to the information that Mongolian Embassy received there isn’t anyone who used narcotics or organized the selling of narcotics.

Mongolian citizens have been used as the carriers. There are several big networks of narcotics that have appeared in Eastern Asia. Mongolians travel without visas to some countries; the criminal groups are using this. They posts advertisement like, ‘Will mediate work abroad with a high salary not dependent on age or gender.’

They choose people who lack information, with low education, and low income. They bring the chosen people to one country and have them swallow narcotics and then transport the drugs through cities in China like Chengdu, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, and others. Lately, many people have arrested, especially over the last two years.

Malaysia attracts a lot of attention. Mongolians can travel to Malaysia without a visa for 30 days. The criminal groups bring people to Malaysia, prepares, and sends the narcotics carriers off. In Malaysia, six Mongolian citizens were arrested at once.

It’s wrong not to give and hide information from media outlets. Many innocent people are caught up in crime because of their lack of information, thus we must inform citizens about this kind of crime.

-What is the most common way to carry narcotics?

-The most common way is to swallow capsules, which contain narcotics. Depending on individuals, they swallow capsules that weigh from 200 grams to 1.2 kilo. We have information that 1.2 kilo is the maximum weight that a Mongolian citizen has swallowed.

Passport enforcement is poor. For example, at the end of 2011, one Mongolian was arrested in Beijing. He had swallowed these capsules. He committed suicide jumping from a hospital window during the meditation to release the capsule from body. That man had two passports with two different names and traveled 12 times between Malaysia and Beijing. It shows, the enforcement agencies in Mongolia are not operating efficiently.

I decided to work more with the media outlets. By doing this, we can deliver warnings and information on victims. I want to stress that people not take the luggage of people they do not know.

-Are there innocent people who became victims like this?

-Yes, but not many people. For example, one person was asked to deliver a suitcase to his brother, but that suitcase had a double bottom with over 2 kilos of narcotics.

You couldn’t see the narcotics because of the double bottom of the suitcase, but it could be revealed by the proper inspection at the airport.

I want to warn people who travel abroad, especially for people who travel to Asia and Eastern Asia. If we don’t give enough information and warnings, people will be drawn into narcotics crimes innocently.

-China holds a hard policy on crimes related to narcotics. What were the sentences for the Mongolian suspects? Is there anyone who has received a death sentence?

Yes, China holds a very hard policy on this. They sentence the death penalty if the individual is found with more than 50 grams with the purpose to gain profit. Of course, they give different sentences depending on the situation.

Currently, three Mongolian citizens have received death sentences. One of them is Damdin. His case passed all the appellate courts and in the end, the Supreme Court of China made decision to sentence him with the death penalty.

Another suspect is Baigalmaa. The Chinese court changed her death penalty to life imprisonment due to gender and showing regret. Recently, the sentence of life imprisonment was changed to 25 years imprisonment. We could transfer her, once she serves most of her sentence.

There is one misunderstanding among Mongolians. We can’t transfer every suspect to Mongolia. We transfer suspects, depending on their crimes and health conditions, if they have served a certain term of their sentence, regret his or her action, or compensated victims.

It’s hard to transfer every suspect to Mongolia, but we will try our best. The agreement is still not valid. The State Great Khural approved the agreement, but China’s Parliament didn’t approve it yet. So far four suspects have been transferred and two of them are female.

-What crime did they commit?

-Two sisters committed a narcotic crime. We transferred them because of their health conditions. Their health was bad.

-Who is the third Mongolian person who received death penalty?

-One of the six people arrested at the end of 2011. I mentioned this before. The press wrote they were arrested in Tianjin. It’s not correct, they arrested in Shenzhen. He carried a large amount of narcotics and contraband several times. I don’t want to say his name right now, because the official decision of court has not been received yet. The other five people were sentenced by 18-25 years imprisonment.

-The President of Mongolia sent a letter to China asking for clemency in Damdin’s case. What stage is the process in?

-It took a long time. The Mongolian President’s letter was delivered there before the final decision and they decided to wait two years before making a decision. We are hoping something positive could happen during this period.

-People swallow the capsules with narcotics. Is there any damage to the human body? I heard that stewards are the first informants. Is that true?

-Yes. That’s not food, so the person who swallows a big amount of narcotics behaves differently on the plane. They don’t eat, drink, or go to the toilet. They can’t smell the smell of food, sit without moving, and sweat like they have a fever. The stewards notice these people and inform officials.  

Recently every Mongolian who is traveling from Malaysia goes through proper inspection at every gate in China, even the people who have business and official travel. This is very uncomfortable and a disrespectful action. We expressed our opposition, but it’s needed, because many Mongolian people are arrested because of narcotics.

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