People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centers, sit with their faces masked while in detention after being released from the centers in Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, Feb. 26. AP-Yonhap
People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centers, sit with their faces masked while in detention after being released from the centers in Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, Feb. 26. AP-Yonhap
China has repatriated nearly 3,000 telecoms fraud suspects from Myanmar since launching a joint crackdown with Myanmar and Thailand earlier this year, according to the top Chinese police authority.
The latest transfer saw 2,255 Chinese nationals held in Myanmar's Myawaddy region escorted back under police supervision, bringing the total to 2,876, China's Ministry of Public Security said on Friday.
Myawaddy in southeastern Myanmar along the Thai border has become a notorious hub for large-scale scams, particularly online fraud. Scam gangs have also been using Thailand as a trafficking route, with the Thai border town of Mae Sot across the Moei River from Myawaddy becoming a key trafficking point for victims to be taken to scam farms in Myanmar.
Myanmar sent the suspects to Thailand from where Chinese police escorted them back on chartered flights to the eastern cities of Nanjing and Shanghai, the ministry statement said.
A first batch of 200 suspects was similarly sent back on Feb. 20.
In a report on Friday, China's Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily said the return of the 2,876 suspects would serve as "a strong deterrent against foreign criminal groups" targeting Chinese.
"Public security authorities are committed to intensifying international law enforcement cooperation," the report said. "They will resolutely eliminate criminal hubs, make every effort to apprehend suspects, and effectively safeguard the lives and property of Chinese citizens."
The ministry had warned those involved in telecoms fraud that there were "no safe havens" for such activities overseas, while promising lighter punishment if they returned to China and turned themselves in, the report added.
People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centers, sit with their faces masked while in detention after being released from the centers in Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, Feb. 26. AP-Yonhap
People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centers, sit with their faces masked while in detention after being released from the centers in Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, Feb. 26. AP-Yonhap
China has stepped up efforts to crack down on cross-border telecoms fraud operations after the rescue mission for a Chinese actor went viral. Wang Xing, 22, became caught up in the Myawaddy scam syndicate in January after being lured to Thailand for a purported shoot.
Cyber gangs in Myawaddy are notorious for exploiting unsuspecting victims lured from around the world, often with job promises. They are then coerced, often violently, into using various deceptive tactics to defraud online or phone victims, including through romance and investment scams.
Under pressure from Beijing following Wang's case, Thailand has intensified its crackdown on Myanmar scam centers along its border, cutting off power and internet services and fuel supplies to hobble their operations.
The moves drew praise from Chinese President Xi Jinping when he met Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Beijing early last month.
Her visit came days after a senior Chinese security delegation led by Liu Zhongyi, China's vice-minister of public security, visited the Thai-Myanmar border area to set up a center to coordinate the return of Chinese nationals.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's civil war has made it difficult to address the scam operations, as many are located in regions that the ruling junta does not control.
The Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), a militia allied with the junta, has authority over Myawaddy and another infamous scam hub, Shwe Kokko.
On Friday, a BGF spokesman told Thailand's Nation TV that some 8,000 foreign nationals from over 30 countries had been sent back home from the area in recent weeks.
Most of those detained by the BGF were Chinese nationals, followed by Vietnamese and Indonesians, the spokesman said.
According to the BGF, 98 percent of those individuals had come to work in Shwe Kokko willingly and were not victims of human trafficking. The spokesman said most of the foreigners possessed Thai-issued visas and had crossed the border through legitimate routes.
Several high-ranking Thai police officials have been reassigned from their positions pending investigations into their possible connections to the scam centers and cross-border human trafficking.
Previously, authorities on either side of the border rejected all accusations of involvement in backing the large-scale criminal organizations. The BGF also repeatedly denied claims of complicity in the scam operations occurring within their area of control.
Read thefull story at SCMP.