Chinese nationals rescued from Myanmar scam centres fly home from Thailand

Mae Sot, Thailand, February 20, 2025 – A group of 50 Chinese nationals, extricated from scam centres in Myanmar, crossed into Thailand on Thursday and boarded a flight home as part of a multinational effort to repatriate approximately 600 Chinese victims.

The group, rescued from facilities on the Thai-Myanmar border, was escorted by armed soldiers at the Mae Sot crossing from the town of Myawaddy, a hotspot for criminally operated scam compounds.

Regional police official Raveepat Amornmuneepong confirmed that “all 50 have boarded the plane that the Chinese government arranged,” adding that Chinese authorities plan to sift through the group to identify victims trafficked into illegal online operations. “There are four flights today,” he said.

For years, criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to scam centres across Southeast Asia, where victims are forced to work in illicit online scams, according to United Nations reports. The recent extraction at Mae Sot is part of Thailand’s renewed effort, supported by Beijing, to dismantle these compounds following high-profile rescues, including that of Chinese actor Wang Xing—who was lured with false promises of an acting job and later rescued from the Myawaddy area. Wang’s case ignited widespread public interest in China and spurred a grassroots initiative that compiled the names of nearly 1,800 Chinese reported to have been trafficked into Myanmar.

The multinational repatriation effort also involves authorities from Myanmar, where the junta has detained more than 1,500 people in the Myawaddy area, with state media reporting 250 detentions on Wednesday. “Officials are working with relevant agencies to collect personal information of these individuals for prompt repatriation,” said a report in the Global Light of Myanmar.

Among those rescued in earlier operations, some survivors of scam centres—part of a group of 260 who returned last week from Myawaddy and are now sheltering in a military camp—recounted suffering cuts and bruises from beatings and electrocution.

In total, nearly 7,000 people rescued from scam compounds in Myanmar are awaiting transfer to Thailand, according to Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. The coordinated repatriation underscores growing regional efforts to combat the human trafficking networks that exploit vulnerable individuals across Southeast Asia.

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