China to fly back 200 nationals rescued from Myanmar scam centres, Thai official says

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By Shoon Naing, Panarat Thepgumpanat

(Reuters) -China will fly home about 200 of its nationals found in scam-running compounds on the Thai-Myanmar border, a Thai security official said on Tuesday, as part of a multinational effort to crack down on illegal online operations run from the region.

Hundreds of thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs have been forced to work in such compounds that have sprung up across Southeast Asia, including the border area between Thailand and Myanmar, the United Nations says.

The Chinese group will be flown back on a commercial aircraft on Thursday from Thailand’s Mae Sot, which borders Myawaddy town in Myanmar, Thai Defence Ministry spokesperson Major General Thanathip Sawangsaeng told reporters.

Myanmar authorities have detained 273 foreigners at scam-operating compounds around Myawaddy, state media reported on Tuesday, as a senior Chinese official visited frontier towns on both sides of the border.

Despite operating for years, such centres have only recently faced renewed scrutiny after the rescue and return to China of actor Wang Xing, abducted in Thailand after being lured there with the promise of a job. 

Officials from China, Myanmar and Thailand met in Myawaddy this week, including China’s assistant public security minister, Liu Zhongyi, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday.

“The representatives held a coordination meeting in Myawaddy and discussed the preventive system for telecom fraud between the three countries,” it said.

Since the end of January, Myanmar authorities have identified 1,303 foreigners who entered the country illegally and worked in scam compounds in the Myawaddy area, such as the 273 detained on Monday, the paper reported.

Myanmar has been caught up in a widening civil war since 2021, when its powerful military overthrew an elected government, sparking protests that have morphed into a rebellion against the junta.

Swathes of the Southeast Asian country are now controlled by armed groups, including parts of Myawaddy that are run by the Karen National Army, a militia led by regional warlord Colonel Saw Chit Thu.

“We will work until the scam centres and human trafficking are eradicated,” he told reporters on Monday, that signalled the growing pressure on his group from regional countries.

Thailand has cut electricity, fuel and internet supplies to some border areas, a tactic that China has asked it to continue with, Thanathip said.

A group of 260 scam centre survivors from Myawaddy entered Thailand last week, most of them victims of human trafficking, said Choocheap Pongchai, the governor of the Thai province of Tak.

Two members of the group have been transferred to the police for further investigation, he added.

(Additional reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Clarence Fernandez and Hugh Lawson)