Myanmar junta to crack down on scam operations on Thai border

YANGON – The Myanmar authorities will crack down on online scam operations along the border with Thailand following talks on military cooperation between the two countries, state media said on Dec 28.

Scam compounds have mushroomed in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands and are staffed by citizens from China and other countries who are often trafficked and forced to work swindling their compatriots.

In recent weeks the junta has said it has arrested scam ringleaders from a militia-run enclave on the border with China and

deported thousands of Chinese nationals

in a crackdown on the multibillion-dollar industry.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and Lieutenant-General Jakkapong Janpengpen of Thailand’s armed forces discussed cooperation between their militaries at a meeting on Dec 27, state media said.

“They also discussed plans to jointly eradicate online gambling and online scams near Myawaddy” on the Myanmar-Thai border, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.

Myawaddy town is controlled by a military-aligned militia, and analysts and media reports say the surrounding area is a hotbed of drug production and online scam outfits.

AFP has contacted the Thai military for comment on the meeting.

Earlier in 2023, the United Nations human rights office said at least 120,000 people were being held in scam compounds in Myanmar.

Many

were housed in the town of Laukkai in northern Shan state,

now the target of an offensive against the military by an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups.

Fighting has raged around the town for weeks and thousands of its inhabitants have fled.

Hundreds of Thai and Vietnamese citizens working in scam compound in Laukkai have been evacuated in recent weeks. AFP