A great milestone has been seen as about 1,000 Chinese nationals are scheduled to be repatriated following their rescue from Myanmar’s illegal scam centers. They are among thousands of foreigners that have been rescued from such illegal centers, where they were compelled to engage in romance and investment scams.
Others of these claimants allege to be victims themselves, having been lured to Thailand for employment that does not exist and having been smuggled into Myanmar over the border.
The Karen Border Guard Force, with the cooperation of Myanmar’s military ruling government, has arranged to deport about 10,000 individuals from the border strip between Myanmar and Thailand in the coming days. Coordinated efforts by Thailand, China, and Myanmar are being undertaken to scatter these scam operations along the border.
Thai authorities are coordinating operations in evacuating and processing these individuals, moving them in batches from Myanmar into Thailand. An estimated 120,000 people are thought to be working now in Myanmar-based online scam operations, where underworld syndicates have capitalized on the country’s chaos amid ongoing civil unrest. Another 100,000 may be trapped in Cambodia, with an untold number elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Bangkok acted last month to cut short gang activities by withholding electricity to the border region. Troops of the Karen Border Guard Force conducted a crackdown on illegal operations in Myanmar’s Myawaddy township of Shwe Kokko on February 18, arresting suspected employees of the scam center and victims. The rescued, comprising Chinese workers who were working and battered and bruised, looked forward eagerly to their return home as Beijing and Thailand completed repatriation arrangements on February 19.
The initial batch of 200 individuals flew into China on Thursday, shown by state media alighting from their plane handcuffed and dressed in matching jumpsuits.
The latest crackdown followed a high-profile case in January with Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was offered a role in a Thai film but was instead trafficked to Myanmar. His speedy rescue by the Thai authorities made headlines in Chinese social media, placing safety discussions when traveling in Thailand into the limelight.
