BANGKOK: Thailand has deported 10 Chinese nationals linked to the high-profile alleged kidnapping of an actor who was rescued from a cyber-fraud centre in Myanmar, Thai police told AFP on Saturday (Feb 15).
Wang Xing, known as Xing Xing, had flown to Thailand after believing he landed a role on a Thai film production.
He was reported missing near a Thai border town before being found safe in Myanmar.
Scam compounds have mushroomed in Myanmar’s borderlands and are staffed by foreigners who are often trafficked and forced to work, swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions of dollars.
The suspects were part of a gang operating in Myawaddy, Myanmar and were allegedly involved in defrauding Chinese citizens, including Wang, according to a police statement on Friday.
“The group had been deported back (to China) yesterday early evening,” a police official told AFP on Saturday.
They were flown out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with Thai immigration police escorting them.
The 10 were deported “for Chinese police to prosecute them,” Thai police said on Friday.
Concerns over cyber-fraud operations heightened after Wang was rescued from a scam centre in Myanmar in January.
Wang said he was lured to Thailand on the promise of an audition, only to be whisked off and smuggled across the border.
Following his rescue, the gang fled Myanmar to relocate to Cambodia before being arrested in Thailand, Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, a senior police official leading efforts against human trafficking, said in Friday’s statement.
The 10 suspects “took part in various roles in the scam”, he said, including managers, security guards and call centre operators who tricked victims.
Thai police pledged to ramp up investigations into assets and cooperate with the country’s anti-money laundering agency to combat call centre scams.
