Myanmar returns 100 scam centre workers to China

Myanmar returns 100 scam centre workers to China, Source: freepik.com

Hanoi - Myanmar has handed over more than 100 Chinese scam centre workers to be repatriated through Thailand, the third batch in a major crackdown on the illegal operations.

Myanmar's government said in a statement that the third group of 111 Chinese nationals was handed over on February 22 via the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2 at the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

Live footage on Thai media outlet The Reporters showed people disembarking from two double-decker coaches and boarding a Southern China Airlines plane.

Hundreds of foreigners are expected to be sent home from scam compounds in Myanmar over the coming weeks. 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.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai described the scam centre problem as a complex transnational crime in a post on his official Facebook account.

In addition to stopping fuel and electricity supplies to suspected scam hubs on the Myanmar side, he had instructed senior Thai police to bolster border control measures, he added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun on February 21 praised the strong cooperation between China, Myanmar and Thailand to crack down on cross-border scam networks.