Telecom fraud suspects escorted back to China

Thirteen Chinese mainlanders implicated in a transnational telecommunications fraud were sent to Shanghai under the escort of Chinese police from Sri Lanka on Tuesday, police said.

Arriving in Shanghai at 8:55 p.m., they are among 482 suspects in a variety of cases seized by law enforcement officials from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on May 23 with the help of police in six countries.

The telecom fraud suspects allegedly stole more than 11.5 million U. S. dollars in 510 scams, and they were spread throughout the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, as well as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji.

So far, the operation has seen 139 suspects being sent back to China's mainland, with another 126 escorted from Thailand and Malaysia to Beijing on May 24.

Of the suspects, 177 are from the Chinese mainland, 286 from Taiwan, and the other 19 suspects are from Thailand and Myanmar, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The ministry launched the operation in November 2011, inviting police from Taiwan to work out effective solutions. Early this month, the ministry sent six groups composed of 70 Chinese police officers to the six countries to further investigate.