Some 7,000 people rescued from illegal call centre operations in Myanmar were waiting be transferred to Thailand, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Wednesday.

Efforts to shut down online scam centers in Myanmar appear to gain momentum with a visit by a top Chinese official to the border zone ahead of expected large-scale repatriations of workers in the illicit industry.

Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.

China will fly home about 200 of its nationals found in scam-running compounds on the Thai-Myanmar border, a Thai security official said on Tuesday, as part of a multinational effort to crack down on illegal online operations run from the region.