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China arrests Myanmar gun-runners to Tibetan regions

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:25 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested 17 people for running guns into ethnically Tibetan parts of the country from northern Myanmar, and have seized a small number of guns and bullets, state media said on Wednesday.

China has long expressed concern that instability in Myanmar could spill over into its border provinces and regions. While the two countries have close economic and political ties, relations have been strained of late after Myanmar suspended the building of a controversial, Chinese-backed $3.6 billion dam.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the guns were smuggled in across the remote and lawless northern part of China's border with the former Burma, long a base for anti-government rebels and drug warlords.

The suspects were arrested in the southwestern province of Yunnan, which borders Myanmar, Tibetan capital Lhasa and an ethnically Tibetan part of Sichuan province, the report added, citing the police.

"Police said the suspects confessed that they began trafficking guns from Myanmar in 2009. All of the firearms were sold to Tibet and Tibetan regions in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces," it said.

Police confiscated eight pistols and a rifle, along with 267 bullets, Xinhua said.

The police have not announced the nationalities of those arrested, it added.

The report also did not say who the end users of the guns may have been.

"Yunnan police said that, in recent years, people vying for big money have started trafficking firearms, taking advantage of loose gun control laws amid arm conflicts in northern Myanmar," Xinhua added.

While gun crime is rare in China thanks to tight controls, police uncovered a similar scheme along the Myanmar border in 2009, when police arrested 11 people and seized guns and explosives, it said.

Many Tibetans chafe at Chinese rule and there have been numerous incidents of violent unrest over the years. But Tibetans wielding guns have almost never featured in any of these demonstrations. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)