Myanmar delays release of 61 foreigners from scam gangs

The Border Guard Force (BGF) in Myanmar’s Myawaddy township has postponed the handover, scheduled for today, of 61 people of various nationalities to Thai authorities at the Second Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot district of Tak province, claiming that they have not yet received approval from Myanmar’s junta.

Thai authorities were notified yesterday of the postponement by the BGF, the junta-allied military force of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Those expected to be released included 39 Chinese nationals, 13 Indian nationals, five Indonesian nationals and one each from Ethiopia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

All were lured by Chinese-operated call centres to work in Shwe Kokko, a casino and scam gang operational base in Myawaddy township, which is under the control of BGF, with promises of attractive pay, but they ended up being forced to work in call centre operations scamming victims in China and Thailand.

Informed sources say that Liu Zhongyi, China’s assistant minister of public security, who is in Thailand for talks about cracking down on the Chinese-run call centres, has visited Ban Wang Kaeo in Mae Ta sub-district, which is opposite Shwe Kokko.

The Chinese delegation also visited the Immigration Bureau’s border checkpoint in Mae Sot.

During his discussion with Pol Lt-Gen Trairong Phiwpan, the commissioner of the Cybercrime Investigation Bureau, Liu sought support from the Thai police by helping to crack down on the call centres in Myanmar, mostly in Shwe Kokko, where, he claimed, as many as 50,000 people of various nationalities, but mostly Chinese, are being forced to work.

The Chinese assistant minister also asked the Thai authorities to cut the electricity supply to and financial links to and from the city, said the sources, adding that Liu also expressed his appreciation for the Thai police’s recent rescue of Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured by a false offer of a casting audition and trafficked into Myanmar by a Chinese scam gang.