BANGKOK — An airlift carrying more than 1,000 Chinese nationals who had worked at online scam centers in eastern Myanmar began Thursday, after the rescued workers were taken across the border to Thailand and put on chartered flights to China.
Thailand, China and Myanmar have coordinated efforts over the past month to shut down the scam centers that bilked victims around the world out of billions of dollars through false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.
Hundreds of thousands of people from Southeast Asia and elsewhere are estimated to have worked at such centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, and many were recruited under false pretenses for other jobs and found themselves trapped in virtual slavery.
Thai officials said recently that as many as 10,000 people may be repatriated from Myanmar from the online scam centers.
So far, 16 flights, or about four a day, have been scheduled to repatriate the Chinese nationals, accompanied by police. Because of the large number of Chinese — the projected number so far is 1,041 — Thailand is allowing Beijing to handle most of their processing and investigations on their return to China.
Thai officials told reporters on Thursday the rescued workers were being taken in batches of 50 across a bridge from Myanmar's Myawaddy to Thailand's Mae Sot, where they were processed — including with biometric scans — and sent on by bus to Mae Sot's airport.
There they boarded China Southern Airlines planes, whose destination was shown by flight tracking websites as Jinghong in southwestern China's Yunnan province.
Thai authorities are overseeing the evacuation and processing of scam center workers from other nations. Last week, some 260 people from 20 nations, including many from Africa, crossed from Myanmar into Thai custody after they were reportedly rescued from scam centers.
The organized repatriation of freed scam workers from nations other than China will begin on Sunday, Thai PBS reported.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on a visit to Beijing earlier this month told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Thailand would crack down on the scam networks. Just ahead of her visit, Thailand cut off electricity, internet and gas supplies to several areas in Myanmar hosting scam centers along the border, citing national security and the damage that Thailand has suffered from the operations.
Thailand wants to cooperate with China since reports about scam workers being trafficked through Thailand have circulated widely on Chinese social media. The Thai government and others fear it will discourage the lucrative market of inbound Chinese tourists.
The Border Guard Force in Myawaddy, a militia of the Karen ethnic minority that controls the area, has organized the repatriation of foreign workers from Myanmar. But critics have accused the group of involvement in the criminal activities by providing protection to the scam centers. It denies the accusations.
An earlier crackdown on scam centers in Myanmar happened in late 2023, after China expressed embarrassment and concern over illegal casinos and scam operations along its border in Myanmar's northern Shan state.
Ethnic guerrilla groups with close ties to Beijing shut down many operations, and an estimated 45,000 Chinese nationals suspected of involvement were repatriated.
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