China transfers 15 phone scam suspects to Thailand

Fifteen criminal suspects from Thailand, who are allegedly involved in telephone scams, were handed over to Thai police from their Chinese counterparts in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province on Thursday.

The suspects, along with four others who are not of Thai nationality, were captured by Chinese police in Guangdong on June 18, according to China's Ministry of Public Security.

Thai police had asked the Chinese authority to assist in investigating two telecom swindling rings based in Guangdong's Dongguan City, which had been targeting Thai citizens, the ministry said.

Chinese police decided to hand over the Thai suspects after an investigation, the ministry said.

Police from the two countries have sustained good cooperative ties in recent years and jointly cracked several transnational criminal cases which have affected citizens from both countries, according to the ministry.

"Chinese police have the confidence and capability to bring criminals to justice and severely punish them no matter which country's citizens' interests they infringed upon," the ministry said in a news release.