Thailand has extradited She Zhijiang, a Chinese national accused of building one of Southeast Asia’s largest illegal gambling and cyber scam empires, to China—ending his two-year legal battle to avoid deportation.
She, who has been detained in Thailand since 2022 following an Interpol Red Notice from Beijing, was escorted by security officials through Bangkok airport on Wednesday before being flown to China. The extradition marks a significant victory for Chinese authorities as they intensify crackdowns on transnational online fraud networks.
The move also comes just days before Thailand’s King is due to make a landmark state visit to Beijing—an event seen as a major step in strengthening diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations.
Beijing accuses She of masterminding vast illegal online gambling operations targeting Chinese citizens, and of using his sprawling businesses as fronts for money laundering and human trafficking. Among his most infamous projects is Shwe Kokko, a glitzy “smart city” in Myanmar near the Thai border.
While marketed as a luxury resort for Chinese investors and tourists, Shwe Kokko has gained international notoriety as a hub for online scams and forced labour. Investigations by journalists and rights groups describe the city as a hotspot for cybercrime, where thousands of people are reportedly trapped and coerced into defrauding victims across Asia.
She’s company, Yatai International Holdings, has been sanctioned by both the UK and US over alleged links to human rights abuses in the region’s scam compounds.
In an earlier prison interview, She denied his company’s involvement in any criminal activity, claiming that Shwe Kokko was “open to everyone,” and that fraudsters may have “entered independently.”
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Born in Hunan province in 1982, She dropped out of school at 14 and taught himself coding before moving into online gambling in the Philippines in his 20s—a business outlawed in China. Despite a 2014 conviction for running an illegal lottery, he continued expanding operations into Cambodia and Myanmar, amassing immense wealth and influence.
According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people across Southeast Asia remain trapped in scam compounds similar to those linked to She Zhijiang, many of them victims of forced labour, deception, and modern slavery.