A Chinese government minister met more than 1,000 alleged scam centre workers on the Thailand-Myanmar border on Monday, Thai media said, as the three countries vowed to crack down on the illicit compounds.
Public security assistant minister Liu Zhongyi did not answer journalists鈥� questions as he took a one-day tour around the Mae Sot-Myawaddy frontier crossings where cross-border crime has proliferated.
Media outlet The Reporters posted photos on Facebook of Liu and his team meeting 鈥�1,030 foreigners鈥�, alleged forced scam centre workers 鈥� hundreds of whom are believed to be Chinese 鈥� in a local militia command centre in Myanmar.
Scam compounds have mushroomed in Myanmar鈥檚 borderlands and are staffed by foreigners who are often trafficked and forced to work, swindling people around the world in an industry analysts say is worth billions of dollars.
When asked about Liu鈥檚 visit, Chinese foreign affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun on Monday told a news briefing that Beijing was 鈥榓ctively carrying out bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Thailand, Myanmar and other countries鈥� to 鈥榚radicate the malignant tumour of online gambling and telecom fraud鈥�.
The Karen Border Guard Force, a militia allied to the junta, said on Saturday it was ready to hand over 500 people linked to cyber scams to Thailand per day, following a major operation in Shwe Kokko, a notorious centre for scam compounds.
Thai media reported on Saturday the military task force responsible for border security in Thailand鈥檚 Tak province had coordinated with Karen Border Guard Force leaders to receive 7,000 workers from scam compounds.
On Wednesday, another local militia group handed 260 alleged scam centre workers from Myanmar to Thai authorities, some of who said of severe punishments meted out by their Chinese bosses.