Myanmar responds
Myanmar has responded strongly to the political pressure brought upon it by China and Thailand to eradicate scam centers operating within its borders.
workers freed come from over 20 nations
According to the BBC on Thursday, the pressure has led to over 250 people being freed from fraud centers across Myanmar’s Karen State. The scam center workers that were freed come from over 20 nations, with over 50% coming from countries in Africa and Asia.
The rescued workers are now in Thailand in the care of the Thai army, who are assessing the victims “to find out if they were victims of human trafficking.”
Pressure tells
Myanmar’s response to regional pressure comes amid a complex mix of rebels fighting to overthrow the government, and ethnic military groups loyal to Acting President Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled as Prime Minister and military chief since 2021.
The release of the 250-plus victims comes just a week after Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra held talks with China’s leader Xi Jinping. Paetongtarn assured Jingping that her government would shut down fraud centers along the notorious Thai-Myanmar border.
prevent scam operators from using Thailand as a transit country for moving workers and cash”
To back up its promise, Thailand cut access to electricity and gas from its side of the border. According to reports, Thailand also tightened up its banking and visa regulations in an attempt to “prevent scam operators from using Thailand as a transit country for moving workers and cash.”
Since Thailand and China started playing hardball, however, both Myanmar’s head of the government-backed Karen National Army, Saw Chit Thu, and another pro-junta armed faction, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), stated they would kick the scam center operations out of their territories.
The DKBA was the faction that handed over the workers to the Thai army after one of its commanders contacted a Thai parliamentarian to arrange the handover on Tuesday.
Thailand issues arrest warrants
The complexity of the situation in Myanmar is that pro-government backed military groups like the DKBA and the Karen National Army (KNA) stand accused of running protection for the scam compounds and of “tolerating the widespread abuse of trafficking victims.”
A day before the captives were freed, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation requested arrest warrants for three KNA commanders, including Saw Chit Thu. The Karen warlord brokered the 2017 deal with a Chinese firm to build Shwe Kokko in Myanmar, a new city believed to be bankrolled by scam center operators and home to the infamous “Garden of Hell” casino complex.