Myanmar detains over 270 foreigners from scam compounds on Thai border

YANGON - The Myanmar authorities detained 273 foreigners from scam compounds along the border with Thailand on Feb 17, as a senior Chinese official visited frontier towns on both sides in a widening crackdown on illegal online operations.

Hundreds of thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs have been forced to work in scam compounds that have sprung up across South-east Asia, including the border between Thailand and Myanmar, the United Nations says.

Despite operating for years, the scam centres have only recently faced renewed scrutiny after the

rescue and return to China of actor Wang Xing

, abducted in Thailand after being lured there with the promise of a job. 

Officials from China, Myanmar and Thailand met in Myawaddy this week, including

China’s assistant public security minister, Mr Liu Zhongyi

, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Feb 18. 

“The representatives held a coordination meeting in Myawaddy and discussed the preventive system for telecom fraud between the three countries,” it said, referring to the Myanmar town abutting Thailand in the vicinity of which Wang was rescued.

Since the end of January, the Myanmar authorities have found 1,303 foreigners who entered the country illegally and worked in scam compounds in the Myawaddy area, with 273 detained on Feb 17, the paper added.

Myanmar has been in the throes of a widening civil war since 2021, when its

powerful military overthrew an elected government

, sparking protests that have morphed into a rebellion against the junta.

Swathes of the South-east Asian country are now controlled by armed groups, including parts of Myawaddy that are run by the Karen National Army, a militia led by regional warlord Colonel Saw Chit Thu.

“We will work until the scam centres and human trafficking are eradicated,” he told reporters on Feb 17, that signalled the growing pressure on his group from regional countries.

Their tactics include the cutting of Thai electricity, fuel and internet supplies to some border areas.

A group of 260 scam centre survivors from Myawaddy entered Thailand last week, most of them victims of human trafficking, said Mr Choocheap Pongchai, the governor of the Thai province of Tak.

Two of the group have been handed to police for further investigation, he added. REUTERS