BANGKOK: Myanmar handed over 300 Chinese scam centre workers to be repatriated through Thailand on Friday, as authorities intensify a crackdown on the illegal operations.
Thousands of foreigners are expected to be sent home from scam compounds in Myanmar over the coming weeks, with the first batch already flown out on Thursday.
The compounds are run by criminal gangs and staffed by foreigners, many of whom say they were trafficked and forced to swindle people around the world in protracted internet scams.
Myanmar’s junta said in a statement that a second group of 300 Chinese nationals was handed over on Friday via the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2 at the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
The statement also said the junta has been working “to identify, arrest, and take action on foreigners who are involved in online scam centres and those who are behind it”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun hailed the “thunder-style cooperation” between China, Myanmar and Thailand to tackle the scam centres.
“China and various countries are firmly determined to fight cross-border online gambling and telecom fraud and protect the lives and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens,” Guo said.
Live footage on Thai media outlet The Reporters showed people disembarking from two double-decker coaches and boarding a Southern China Airlines plane, a scene similar to that witnessed by AFP journalists on Thursday.
It said that the first 50 Chinese nationals boarded a 10.40 AM (0340 GMT) flight, with the rest expected to depart on five additional flights throughout the day.
A last set of flights is expected to return more Chinese nationals on Saturday.
Many of those freed from scam centres say they were duped into working in them and held against their will, but the Chinese government and state media have described them all as “suspects”.
Chinese police officers are accompanying them on the repatriation flights and a state TV report on Thursday showed the returnees, handcuffed and dressed in brown jumpsuits, being frogmarched off the plane in China with a police officer on each arm.
They had boarded uncuffed, in casual clothes, without any luggage.
The Thai government said Thursday that biometric data would be collected from repatriated Chinese nationals to prevent “future misuse of Thailand as a criminal transit hub”.
Prime minister Paetongtarn Shinwatra also met with her Laos counterpart on Thursday to discuss joint efforts to combat scam centres along their shared border.