Chinese fishermen find ‘suspicious underwater devices’ for rich reward
- Civilians mobilised to be on the alert for spying equipment in local waters
- Six foreign devices were identified as capable of surveillance, according to state media
Fishermen in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu have been rewarded for finding “suspicious underwater devices” as part of a push by authorities to encourage people to be on the alert for spying equipment in local waters.
Nine devices were reported to the Ministry of State Security in 2018, six of which were “foreign devices capable of underwater investigation, identification and spying”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Details of the devices and the amount awarded to the 11 fishermen, and seven other related individuals, were not revealed.
Jiangsu’s fishing community tends to concentrate its efforts around the East China Sea where Japanese and American naval patrols are common.
In an indication of how much the fishermen may have received, a fisherman in Lianyungang, northeastern China, was awarded 50,000 yuan (US$7,300) for discovering underwater devices in January 2018.
