TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Philippine police rescued over 2,700 workers held captive by a cybercrime syndicate on Tuesday (June 27), including 21 Taiwanese.

Early on Tuesday morning, Philippine police conducted a raid on a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator in Las Pinas city in Metro Manila, reported the Inquirer. The officers executed search and seizure warrants for computer data at the company Xinchuang Network Technology Inc., formerly known as "Hong Tai," for the alleged violation of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

Police rescued 2,714 people who had been swindled into working for the fraudulent online gaming operator, according to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO). The nationalities rescued included 1,528 Filipinos, 600 Chinese, 183 Vietnamese, 137 Indonesians, 134 Malaysians, 81 Thais, 21 Taiwanese, seven Nigerians, five Singaporeans, five Burmese, four Yemenis, two Pakistanis, two Africans, one Indian, one Somalian, one Sudanese, one Cameroonian, and one Iranian.

The NCRPO said, “All rescued persons are documented for booking and possible repatriation.” Police listed the owner, maintainer, facilitator, and manager of Xinchuang Network Technology Inc. as Quiha Lui, Liangfei Chen, Jimmy Lin, and Abbey Ng, while its incorporators were identified as Danica Andres Mensah, Oliver Ong, Divina Trillanes, and Daisy Vidal Cidro.

Police Captain Michelle Sabino, a spokesperson for the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, was cited by Agence France-Presse as saying the workers had taken jobs uploaded on Facebook purporting to work in the Philippines to recruit players for online games. Many of the alleged trafficking victims were compelled to work for 12 hours every day for only 24,000 pesos (US$433) per month and were not allowed to leave the compound, according to the spokesperson.

Sabino said the operation was the "biggest ever" anti-trafficking raid in the Philippines.