An airlift carrying more than 1,000 Chinese nationals who had worked at online scam centers in eastern Myanmar began Thursday, after the rescued workers were taken across the border to Thailand and put on chartered flights to China.

Myanmar handed over 300 Chinese scam centre workers to be repatriated through Thailand on Friday, as authorities intensify a crackdown on the illegal operations. Myanmar's junta said in a statement that a second group of 300 Chinese nationals was handed over on Friday via the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2 at the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

A group of 200 Chinese nationals plucked from scam centres in Myanmar crossed into Thailand and were flown home on Thursday, as part of a multinational effort to repatriate hundreds caught up in massive internet fraud schemes,