From poverty to prison

A Kou, a member of the Yi ethnic group, was born in a poor village in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province.

Like many of her peers, she has a poor educational background, which along with her lack of knowledge of the outside world, made her an easy target as an unwitting stooge for money launderers.

"I never attended school. My parents never asked me to go to school, and in the village where I was born, no one thinks that going to school or being educated is a good option for girls," the 16-year-old said.

"I didn't know what to do to make money, until one day I was introduced to a middle-aged woman. She looked wealthy and owned several large houses in the city. She asked me to become a personal servant, so I took the job - preparing food and cleaning the houses were easy tasks for me."

At the beginning, the girl wasn't aware of her employer's illegal activities. "I thought she was a merchant, because she asked me to help her transfer money to different bank accounts at least twice a day, and sometimes three times a day," she said.

"I didn't know I was helping to launder money nor doing anything illegal until one day she asked me to pick up a white bag under a bridge in Panzhihua, a city in the south of the province. When I discovered the bag contained heroin I realized I was involved in a massive drug trafficking network."

She claims her employer threatened to kill her if she didn't follow the strict instructions: "I was scared because I knew some members of the gang had been murdered after they disobeyed her. Because of that I stayed, and later I was caught by the police."

A Kou is now awaiting trial, and she faces a lengthy prison sentence, if convicted.

"It's a path of no return. I only played a small part in the complicated and highly hierarchical group. I had no friends there and I couldn't talk to my parents - they didn't know what I was doing. I regret what I've done, but it's too late to say that now," she said.

(China Daily 08/17/2016 page12)