HUNDREDS of people believed to have been trafficked and trapped into working in online scam centres are to be repatriated after being rescued from Myanmar, Thailand’s military has announced.

In a fresh crackdown on scam centres operating from south-east Asia, the Thai army said on Thursday it was co-ordinating an effort to repatriate some 260 people believed to have been victims of human trafficking after they were rescued and sent from Myanmar to Thailand.

Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, which share borders with Thailand, have become known as havens for criminal syndicates that are estimated to have forced hundreds of thousands of people in south-east Asia and elsewhere into helping run online scams, including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.