How Social Media Is Used to Smuggle Chinese Nationals Through BiH

October 1, 2026 Comments Off

Originally published by Detektor on October 1, 2026

https://detektor.ba/krijumcarenje-kineza-bih/en

Detektor has uncovered accounts on social media where human smugglers advertise, offering Chinese citizens illegal border-crossing services between BiH and Croatia.

“I really had no choice but to leave China”— Wenbin

That’s what Wenbin told Detektor journalists at the beginning of September 2026 in Bihać, 10km away from the border with Croatia. The 22-year-old from China pointed to a post he had seen a month earlier on the social network Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

It visually explained how to illegally cross the border into Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The images listed the journey through BiH, and the guide was depicted as a cartoon bear.

Wenbin, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, had been considering leaving his country for several months. He had taken part in protests in the city of Jiangyou, in China’s Sichuan province. They had broken out in August 2025 when citizens took to the streets over a perceived lack of response by the authorities into a brutal attack on a girl in the city. It was a rare example of a mass street demonstration in the country.

“Because I participated in that protest, the police took me to the station and beat me. This [being taken to the station] has been going on from last year into this year, up until now. They call me almost every month to ask where I am. They ask if I’ve been involved in anything lately, inquiring about my personal affairs, constantly harassing me,” Wenbin said.

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Child smuggling adverts

Detektor found dozens of video adverts on social networks Douyin and TikTok in which smugglers offered illegal transit of families with minor children, as well as people being transported in car trunks.

Sophie Richardson from Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an international NGO, told Detektor that people are leaving China due to political or religious vulnerability, for economic reasons and out of fear of state policies.

Those leaving are often well-educated or members of the middle class. “Precisely the profile of people that Xi Jinping and the Chinese government claim is both desirable and content,” she added.

She also warned of the dangers facing the families of migrants who remain in China.

“A person who is wanted, and outside the country, their family members inside the country would face pressure to try to get those people to return,” Richardson explained.

She emphasised that real dangers exist for those returned to China after a failed escape.

“The amount of data the Chinese government collects on citizens is quite impressive. And if the authorities know you tried to leave, failed, and were sent back, you can truly be at risk,” Richardson said.

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