The Indian Air Force sent a large aircraft to repatriate 283 citizens from a call centre scam hub in Myanmar.

Indian authorities dispatched the jet to pick up the rescued workers at the Mae Sot International Airport in northern Tak province, on March 10.

Immigration officers said the Indian nationals were escorted to the airport in buses. Police checked their IDs before allowing them to board the C-17 aircraft. A second flight carrying 257 more Indians was scheduled the following day.

The repatriation came after the Burmese junta deported 1,500 alleged Chinese scammers from the Myawaddy Township on March 9.

Thai and Burmese police had carried out raids of suspected scam compounds in Myawaddy on February 18. Thousands of workers, some of whom were believed to have been victims of human trafficking, were detained.

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.

The Thai government last 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.