Hundreds of workers were detained and repatriated from scam compounds in Myanmar.

The alleged scammers were caught during raids of suspected call centre gang offices in the Myawaddy Township, on February 18.

Thai soldiers swept into the buildings and rescued enslaved foreigners believed to be victims of human trafficking. They also confiscated computers said to be used in the scam operations.

Thailand, China, and Myanmar have been co-ordinating to crack down on the organised crime centres carrying out romance scams, illegal gambling, and fake investment schemes.

More than 1,000 Chinese workers were flown back to China from the compounds on February 20.

Thai authorities said some 10,000 people were set to be repatriated in batches.

The Thai government this month had cut power to border towns in a bid to starve the boiler room gangs, which have sprouted along the border near the notoriously crime-ridden Golden Triangle region.

The Golden Triangle lies in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), run by notorious Chinese business tycoon and suspected crime boss Zhao Wei in the Chinese vassal state Laos. Communist chiefs are said to turn a Nelsonian eye to his wrongdoing.

In 2007, Zhao brokered a deal with the Laos government and obtained a 99-year lease to build the zone on a 39-square mile patch of impoverished Bokeo province.

The Chinese businessman claims to be a benefactor as he touts the GTSEZ as a tourist and economic hub designed to bring more income and investments into the country. However, both local and international law enforcement agencies believe it is a front for organised crime, including human trafficking, drug trafficking, and call-centre scams.

International authorities have struggled to take down the gambling empire as the Laos government itself is said to be protecting the GTSEZ, in which it has a 20 per cent stake.