China to fly back 200 nationals rescued from Myanmar

Over 1, 300 immigrants detained from con areas since January, says Myanmar state advertising

Soldiers attached to the Rachamanu Task Force monitor the border at the Muang Mee surveillance point in Mae Sot district of Tak, across from the entertainment complexes at Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy. (Photo: Royal Thai Army)
The Muang Mee security level in the Mae Sot city of Tak, across from the leisure complexes at Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy, is where troops from the Rachamanu Task Force patrol the border. ( Photo: Royal Thai Army )

As part of a global crackdown on illegal online activities in the region, a Thai security official announced on Tuesday that China would soar 200 of its citizens home from call-centers found in scams along the Thai-Myanmar border.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to work in these facilities, which have spread throughout Southeast Asia, including the frontier region between Thailand and Myanmar.

According to Maj Gen Thanathip Sawangsaeng, a spokeswoman for the Thai Ministry of Defence, the Chinese party may be flown up on a commercial plane on Thursday from Mae Sot in Tak state, which borders Myawaddy village in Myanmar.

As a senior Chinese official traveled to frontier towns on both sides of the border, Myanmar authorities reported on Tuesday that 273 foreigners were being detained at scam-operating properties nearby Myawaddy.

Although they have been in operation for years, these centers have only recently come under renewed scrutiny following Wang Xing’s rescue and return to China after being abducted in Thailand and lured there with the promise of a job.

Officials from China, Myanmar and Thailand met in Myawaddy this week, including Liu Zhongyi, the assistant public security minister of China, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday.

The representatives discussed the three countries ‘ preventive systems for telecom fraud at a coordination meeting in Myawaddy, according to the statement.

According to the report from the paper, 1, 303 foreigners have been spotted in Myanmar’s 273 detained on Monday and who have been working in scam-dominiums in the Myawaddy region since the end of January.

Since 2021, Myanmar’s powerful military overthrew an elected government, stoking the junta, which has since grown into a wider civil war. Armed groups now control large areas of the nation, including areas of Myawaddy, which are run by the Karen National Army, a militia led by regional warlord Colonel Saw Chit Thu.

He declared,” We will work until the scam centers and human trafficking are eliminated,” which indicated the growing pressure on his group from regional nations.

Thailand has cut electricity, fuel and internet supplies to some border areas, a tactic that China has asked it to continue with, Thanathip said.

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

Two members of the group have been transferred to the police for further investigation, he added.