China repatriated 240 arrested Chinese gambling and fraud suspects from Cambodia on Thursday, with over 500 more expected to be escorted back, Chinese state media said, as Beijing stepped up a years-long effort to combat Chinese organised crime in Southeast Asia.

The arrested group constituted the second batch China has chartered planes to repatriate from Cambodia after a first round in April when more than 680 were escorted back, China’s national television broadcaster CCTV reported.

China’s Effort To Combat Organized Crime

As part of efforts to stem cross-border online gambling and fraud carried out through telecom networks, China has partnered with neighbours such as Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to nab Chinese suspects and have them brought back to China.

The latest deportation follows a week after China and Myanmar dismantled large telecom fraud centres in northern Myanmar, with over 53,000 Chinese nationals arrested since a campaign to combat such fraud began last year.

A Combined Effort

In September, China and Cambodia strengthened their cooperation against gambling and fraud, signing agreements to enhance law enforcement collaboration and fight Chinese organised crime in the Southeast Asian country.

In 2019, Cambodia banned online gambling, targeting particularly Chinese-run operations that had sprung up in the southern coastal city of Sihanoukville.

“The public security authorities will continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries and regions, carry out focused crackdowns, resolutely dismantle gambling and fraud dens involving Chinese nationals, and firmly curb the high incidence of such crimes,” CCTV said.

China has also repatriated thousands of suspects under its covert global “Operation Fox Hunt” operation launched a decade ago to fight corruption and economic crimes and has since recovered billions of dollars in assets.

(With inputs from Reuters)