Myanmar returned over 5,500 criminal suspects to China in 2025。

The first batch of 200 Chinese telecom fraud suspects are repatriated from Myanmar to China, via Thailand, on a chartered plane on February 20, 2025. Photo: Guo Yuandan/GT

Over 5,500 criminal suspects have been repatriated to China by Myanmar since the beginning of this year, as part of the joint crackdown on gambling and fraud crimes in Myawaddy, Myanmar, under the trilateral coordination mechanism established by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, China's Ministry of Public Security said on Friday.

The ministerial meeting on joint efforts to combat telecom and online fraud among China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam was held on Friday in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the ministry said on its official WeChat account.

The six countries engaged in in-depth discussions on further combating transnational telecom and online fraud crimes and reached a series of consensus, according to the report.

The ministry said that in recent years, the Chinese government, in practicing the Global Security Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, has actively engaged in law enforcement cooperation with countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, establishing effective mechanisms and achieving remarkable results.

For instance, police from China and Laos organized a joint operation, conducting a concentrated crackdown on telecom fraud dens in four parks in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in northern Laos' Bokeo province, rounding up over 600 criminal suspects in one fell swoop.

A special campaign has been carried out by Chinese and Vietnamese police to combat telecom and online fraud as well as gambling crimes, resulting in 149 criminal suspects being successfully apprehended, according to the ministry.

Chinese and Cambodian police successively apprehended 2,141 criminal suspects in locations such as Mondulkiri, Phnom Penh, and Svay Rieng in Cambodia, as the two sides step up joint crackdown efforts, with all these individuals having been repatriated and handed over to China.

This series of crackdown operations has exerted a powerful deterrent effect on gambling and fraud crime syndicates, according to the ministry.

During the meeting, law enforcement authorities of the six countries also jointly signed outcome documents and conducted further consultations on the initiative put forward by China at the 2025 Conference of Global Public Security Cooperation Forum held in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province, to jointly establish an international alliance to combat telecom and cyber fraud.

All parties also expressed their commitment to conducting multinational joint operations, establishing regular coordination mechanisms, enhancing information sharing, and continuing the repatriation and transfer of individuals involved in fraud activities, said the ministry.

Global Times