Thousands of foreigners are expected to be freed and returned from scam compounds in Myanmar in the coming weeks, starting with 600 Chinese over the next three days.
The compounds run by criminal gangs are staffed by foreigners, many of whom say they were trafficked and forced to work running internet scams swindling people around the world.
Many of those involved are Chinese and Beijing has stepped up pressure on Myanmar and Thailand to shut the centres down.
The Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), a militia allied with the Myanmar junta, has said it is preparing to deport 10,000 people linked to the compounds in areas it controls on the border with Thailand.
Two double-decker coaches delivered a first round of returning workers to the border post in the western Thai town of Mae Sot on Thursday morning, AFP journalists at the scene saw.
"First group of 50 Chinese have crossed to Thailand and headed to the airport. There will be three more batches (today), each with 50 Chinese," a local border task force official told AFP.
China has put on 16 flights over the next three days to ferry 600 of its nationals home direcly from Mae Sot.
Chinese security personnel are expected to accompany the returnees on the planes, and it is not clear what fate awaits them back in China.
The release follows several visits by China's Public Security Assistant Minister Liu Zhongyi to Bangkok and the border in recent weeks to arrange the repatriation.
Scam centres have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, including in Cambodia and the Philippines, as the value of the industry has boomed to billions of dollars a year.
Many workers say they were lured or tricked into the centres by promises of high-paying jobs before they were effectively held hostage, their passports taken from them while they were forced to commit online fraud.
Many have said they suffered beatings and other abuse at the hands of their supervisors, and AFP has interviewed numerous workers freed from centres with severe bruising and burns.
Chinese court tries family accused of aiding Myanmar scam centres
Beijing (AFP) Feb 19, 2025 -
A Chinese court said Wednesday it had finished a public trial for alleged members of a crime family accused of murder, fraud and collusion with cross-border scammers based in Myanmar.
Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar's lawless borderlands, staffed by foreigners -- many of them Chinese -- who say they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry.
In recent months, Beijing has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on the compounds, and a militia allied with the Myanmar junta said this month that it is preparing to deport 10,000 people with ties to scam operations.
A court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou said in a statement Wednesday it had held a six-day public trial of 23 members of a family with links to Myanmar accused of acting as a criminal syndicate.
Among them were Mg Myin Shaunt Phyin and Ma Thiri Maung, which the court identified as "main suspects" along with other key members Yan Sone Hwar and Myin Shut Lan.
The defendants stand accused of a litany of crimes including murder, fraud, intentional injury, illegal imprisonment, extortion, drug smuggling, prostitution and running illegal gambling dens.
The court said the group were linked to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and the wounding of six more, as well as illicit gains of over 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) since 2015.
It cited one instance in 2023 in which the accused "opened fire" on people at a scam compound to prevent them from being transferred back to China.
They also allegedly relied on influence with armed forces in Myanmar's Kokang region, which borders China, to "collude with criminal groups".
A verdict in the trial would be announced "at a later date", the court said.
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