A batch of 1,178 Chinese suspects involved in telecom fraud in Myanmar's Myawaddy region are escorted back to China via Thailand by Chinese police. Photo: Screenshot from CCTV News

As the joint crackdown on telecom and online fraud by police forces from China, Myanmar and Thailand deepened, a batch of 1,178 Chinese suspects involved in telecom fraud in Myanmar's Myawaddy region were sent back to China under escort with the assistance of Thai authorities, China Central Television (CCTV) reported Monday.

On November 14, China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam held a ministerial-level meeting on joint action against telecom and online fraud. Following the meeting, the countries, in line with the consensus reached, further strengthened international law enforcement cooperation and launched joint operations to sweep fraud camps and apprehend suspects. 

In response to the telecom fraud targeting China in Myanmar's Myawaddy region, the police forces of China, Myanmar, and Thailand carried out another joint operation, during which Myanmar dismantled multiple fraud camps and arrested a batch of suspects. This operation represents another important outcome of implementing the spirit of the six-country ministerial meeting on combating telecom and online fraud.

Since December 1, China's Ministry of Public Security has organized police officers from Jiangxi Province to carry out chartered flights in Mae Sot, Thailand, to escort the suspects back to China in batches with Thailand's assistance. Simultaneously, Jiangxi police have been investigating related cases, according to CCTV. 

According to statistics, since the joint China-Myanmar-Thailand operation to extradite suspects from the Myawaddy region began on February 20, over 6,600 Chinese suspects involved in telecom fraud have been sent back to China under escort, sending a strong warning to overseas telecom fraud syndicates, CCTV reported.

An official from the Ministry of Public Security stated that multinational joint operations against cross-border telecom and online fraud continue. Chinese authorities will, with greater determination and intensity, deepen international law enforcement cooperation, resolutely dismantle criminal networks, apprehend suspects, and effectively safeguard the lives and property of the public, per the report.

Global Times