MANILA: The authorities have arrested more than 200 "mostly Chinese" foreign workers in the country's largest crackdown on illegal online gaming operators this year, the immigration bureau said.

The Philippines banned online gaming operators, known locally as POGOs, in 2024 on the grounds that organised crime groups used them as a cover for human trafficking, money laundering, online fraud, kidnappings and murder.

The military and other law enforcement agencies raided two addresses in the southern region of Mindanao on Friday, arresting 110 Chinese nationals, two Cambodians and a Hong Kong resident at one site, an immigration bureau statement released late on Saturday said.

Another 131 foreigners were arrested at the second site who were "mostly Chinese" and also included citizens of Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar.