Thai police to return 10 Chinese suspects linked to actor's abduction

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities will send 10 Chinese nationals who were involved in the abduction of actor Wang Xing back to China, police said on Friday, amid a mounting crackdown on scam centres that was triggered by the actor's kidnapping. 

Wang Xing went missing in January after he was lured to Thailand by the promise of a lucrative acting job. Thai police later found him in Myanmar and he has since returned home.

His disappearance drew national interest in China after his girlfriend began a social media campaign about his plight and renewed an international effort to crack down on these illegal operations, which have been in place for years. 

Hundreds of thousands of people have been lured and abducted by criminal gangs and forced to work in illegal online operations that have defrauded billions annually across Southeast Asia, according to the the United Nations.

The 10 Chinese suspects were part of a group operating in Myanmar's Myawaddy town and defrauded Chinese people, Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, a Royal Thai Police inspector-general said. 

They were travelling to Cambodia through Thailand, where they were arrested and will be sent to China for legal action, Thai police said in a statement.

China has given Thailand the name of 3,700 individuals who are believed to be criminals running fraud centres in Myanmar, Thatchai said.  

Earlier this week, Thailand received over 200 call centre victims from Myanmar. 

A spokesman for the Karen National Army (KNA), a Myanmar rebel group that controls territory around Myawaddy, told Reuters it plans to send back thousands more. 

“We are cracking down on the situation, but it takes time. We are trying to send the people back as quick as possible,” Major Naing Maung Zaw said.

Thailand earlier this month cut electricity, fuel and internet supply to parts of Myanmar where the illegal compounds operate, reflecting growing unease in Bangkok over the impact of scam centres on the vital tourism sector.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, and Chayut Setboonsarng; Additional reporting by Shoon Naing; Editing by William Maclean)