Estou levando a sério a caça de oportunidades, meu espaço está cheio de jade imperial

“Speak! Who took that piece of jade material?”
“I don’t know! Please, spare me—I really didn’t see who took it… ah!”
“Damn it! You won’t cry until you see the coffin!”

Northern Myanmar, Kachin Mountains, Longtang mining site.

Inside a makeshift shack constructed from corrugated steel sheets, a dozen or so Chinese men hung by their bound hands from steel beams.

The local militia captain, dressed in green fatigues, was repeatedly whipping them with a leather whip dipped in saltwater, interrogating relentlessly.

Longtang is one of the dozen or so jade ore mines operated by Burmese miners, famed for producing authentic, high-quality jadeite.

What few know is that the Longtang militia not only controls part of the mining sites but also has complex ties with nearby telecom fraud camps.

Since the anti-fraud crackdown began last year, many such camps have been systematically dismantled by allied forces.

Some camp bosses, eager to relocate their bases and flee abroad, sold off their captives at rock-bottom prices to local militia leaders to serve as unpaid laborers for jade picking.

Though these people were called “Yemu Xi” (jade pickers), their status was even lower than genuine Yemu Xi.

“Yemu Xi” is a Burmese transliteration meaning “jade pickers,” mostly local poor folks.

By arrangement with mine owners, they were allowed to sift through the discarded stones at certain times to find overlooked gems, maintaining some degree of personal freedom.

But the captives sold off were treate