A total of 20 Taiwan residents involved in a telecom scam were repatriated to Taipei by Malaysia on Friday, following fears among some Taiwan officials who had rushed to prevent the Taiwan suspects from being sent to the Chinese mainland.

Taiwan-based China Times reported late Friday night that the 20 suspects arrived at an airport in Taipei on a flight from Malaysia.

The whereabouts of the other 32 Taiwan suspects in this case are not clear.

Earlier in the day, two members of the New Power Party said that relatives of some of the Taiwan suspects had told them they couldn't return to Taiwan as previously planned, because the mainland had sent a plane to Malaysia to retrieve the Taiwan suspects along with more than 60 mainland suspects.

The fears arose after an earlier case earlier this week where 15 Taiwan suspects in another fraud case were sent to the mainland by Kenya despite protests from Taiwan, with two later confessing in a public CCTV broadcast.

Taiwan has asked for the suspects currently in custody in the mainland to be returned to Taipei.