"Illegal workers to be caught, returned", 28 March 2022

Police are firming a plan to work with Cambodia authorities in an operation to arrest Thais working as call centre scammers there while the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) will arrange a ship to bring those arrested back to Thailand.

Assistant national police chief, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, who is in charge of combating human trafficking operations, told … there are about 2,800-3,000 Thais working as call centre scammers, some of whom were duped by the call centre gangs.

"There are about 2,800-3,000 of them. We will ask Cambodian police to arrest them and they will be sent back to Thailand. They will be screened and categorised before legal action is taken,'' Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.

He said he will lead a team of senior police to fly to Phnom Penh and some other cities on April 2 to take part in the operation, which is expected to take several days.

… A source at the Immigration Bureau previously said not all Thais employed by call centre gangs in Cambodia had been duped and forced to work there…

Some gang leaders are Chinese nationals and believed to be well-connected to high-ranking officials in Cambodia, according to the source.