A public trial has been concluded at a court in eastern China for members of a Chinese crime syndicate that allegedly staged phone frauds and other illicit activities in Myanmar.



Chinese authorities have stepped up cooperation with their counterparts in Myanmar since 2023 to crack down on groups perpetrating phone scams and other crimes in northern Myanmar, bordering China. More than 53,000 Chinese suspects have reportedly been detained.



China's Xinhua News Agency reported that the public trial for 23 senior members of the large-scale crime syndicate concluded at a court in Zhejiang Province on Wednesday.



Prosecutors noted that the syndicate consists of several thousand members, when related groups are included. They said that it has been involved in gambling and fraud-related transactions whose worth exceeds 1.37 billion dollars since 2015. The group is also linked to the deaths of 14 Chinese nationals.



Scam compounds operated by Chinese and other nationals have also flourished in Myanmar's borderland with Thailand, with foreign nationals being found to have been confined and forced to take part in crimes.



Beijing has expressed readiness to cooperate with Myanmar and Thailand to better address the situation.