The Mekong River zigzags from China’s Yunnan Province and then to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This makes it the major shipping artery in the region.

Over the past decade, trade between China and South-east Asian countries through the river has surpassed thirty billion yuan. But the booming business also makes it a popular target of crime. The notorious Golden Triangle, one of the basins along the river, has a long history of drug trafficking and killings.

So far this year, more than 70 percent of the ships setting out from Yunnan Province claim to have been robbed.