With support of relevant Cambodian authorities, a task force dispatched by China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) successfully escorted Liu Ren - a key figure in the Chen Zhi criminal gang - back to China from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, according to the MPS on Wednesday via its official WeChat account.

This marks another significant achievement in law enforcement cooperation between China and Cambodia.

Investigations revealed that in 2016, Chen Zhi directed Liu Ren and others to establish the Jin Bei Group in Cambodia. The group operated multiple online gambling platforms, aggressively soliciting Chinese citizens to participate in online gambling, the ministry said.

Since 2020, the Jin Bei Group has operated telecom-fraud compounds in Cambodia, committing large-scale telecommunications and internet fraud involving massive sums of money. Additionally, Liu Ren is implicated in serious violent crimes, including illegal detention and intentional injury. Liu Ren has been subjected to compulsory measures in accordance with the law, and the case remains under further investigation.

Since the beginning of this year, in response to the severe situation regarding telecommunications and internet fraud targeting Chinese citizens from Cambodia, police forces from both countries have continuously deepened practical law enforcement cooperation. They have cracked down on scam compounds and criminal hideouts, apprehended key "financiers" and core members, and effectively curtailed the space for these criminal activities to survive and expand.

According to previous reports, Chen Zhi, a Chinese national and suspected ringleader of a major cross-border gambling and telecom fraud criminal syndicate, was escorted from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, back to China in January.

According to the MPS, to date, Cambodia has repatriated over 20,000 individuals involved in fraud, as well as multiple suspects wanted for homicide, to China. The MPS has mobilized public security agencies in more than ten provinces and municipalities—including Shanxi, Shandong, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Gansu—to fully engage in the investigation and prosecution of these cases.

A spokesperson for the ministry stated that public security agencies will maintain a high-pressure crackdown on transnational telecommunications and internet fraud.