Linh Panda, 26, a Chinese national living in London, told BuzzFeed News that the police had contacted him and his family by phone on Friday and urged them to turn themselves in. He told BuzzFeed News that China police in Chengdu had a list of the missing from a bank in Nanjing and had arranged for him to meet with a senior member of the Chengdu police on Saturday morning. After speaking to a police officer, he was told that he would be deported to China and taken to his home province, according to the police officer. Panda said the officer told him about plans to deport him to his home province, the Xinjiang Region of China, where he said he would likely face forced labour if returned to China. The news came as British Prime Minster Theresa May told MPs that she was “gravely concerned” in a speech last night about the risks of forced labour in China. “All the evidence I have seen points to a systemic problem,” May told the Commons. The Home Office said that the UK provides an “open, safe and comprehensive system” for supporting young people overseas. “We are committed to helping vulnerable international students, apprentices, students and workers, to prepare for and succeed in our universities and to promote equality and justice in our society,” a spokesperson said.

An Australian man, named in Fairfax Media as Kostja “Kostjin Jantzi” Kovesi, also faces possible deportation but he has not been publicly named. The Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has asked China to take more effective action, pointing to the fact that young Australians who have worked at a range of Chinese companies in Australia – most notably the mining company Rio Tinto – and in some cases their parents have been deported. He was also upset that Australia had failed to protect a Chinese national, who was an Australian citizen, who had come to work for a Chinese company in Australia. He said Australia’s policy was that it would “protect the rights of Australian citizens abroad, but it would not be a free-for-alls in terms of the actions that would be taken to protect their rights. So I’m in great disappointment at this point and we’ll be monitoring this very, very closely and we’ve asked for an official meeting with the Chinese government and other government officials to discuss how the Chinese government can assist us.” Some experts say Australians seeking to work in China can face difficulty if they apply for a work visa through the Australian employer, but it offers a