Sixty-three suspects involved in cross-border telecommunication fraud have been returned to Chinese custody from Cambodia on Wednesday.  

The airplane carrying the suspects arrived at southwest China’s Chongqing municipality at 4:37 p.m. on June 26.  

Chongqing police received a report on possible investment in online gambling in March last year. After conducting an investigation based on the report, police were able to find multiple fraud cases across China with over five million yuan (over 700,000 U.S. dollars) involved. 

Police also discovered that the crime dens were in fact in Cambodia. With support from the Chinese embassy in Cambodia as well as Cambodian police, authorities successfully cracked down on three crime dens on June 10, arresting 68 suspects, and another five who fled were caught in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh the following week.  

The 63 suspects sent back to China are all Chinese nationals. This is the first time for local police in Chongqing to bring suspects from abroad with a chartered plane. 

"Over 200 people were onboard the plane including the suspects, police officers as well as the flight crew. And there are also many on the ground. It is a tricky situation,” said Zhang Xin from the Chongqing General Station of Immigration Inspection.  

Zhang told CGTN that by completing this mission successfully, he is confident that they will be able to handle similar cases in the future and bring criminals to justice.

Chongqing police said that the city’s public security units have been working with Cambodia closely to further crack down on telecommunication fraud, enhance international law enforcement cooperation and safeguard assets and rights of the general public.