Myanmar junta renews demolition of border scam compounds near Thailand

Myanmar junta forces and their Karen allies, the Karen National Army, have renewed their dismantling of buildings in Shwe Kokko and KK Park, two scam hubs close to Thailand’s western border.

Informed Thai official sources in Mae Sot district of Tak province claim that two backhoes have recently been demolishing buildings suspected of being linked to scam gangs still operating in Shwe Kokko, opposite Ban Wang Kaeo in Mae Sot district, and in neighboring Ban Wang Pha in Mae Ramat district.

The sources claim that junta forces have set a target to tear down two buildings a day, to cleanse the border scam area and to prevent the return of the scam gangs.

Meanwhile, in KK Park, which is located to the south of Myawaddy township in Karen state, opposite Mae Ku sub-district of Tak province, junta forces have renewed their bombing of suspected scam buildings after a two-month hiatus.

China, Thailand and Myanmar joined forces to launch a crackdown on scam operations in Shwe Kokko and KK Park in December last year.

The sources say that the resumption of the crackdown follows the election by parliament of junta leader Gen Min Aung Hlaing as the president of Myanmar in April.

The sources also say that the ongoing crackdown has forced some of the remaining scammers in Shwe Kokko and KK Park to flee deeper into Myanmar, while others have escaped into territories controlled by Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu, of the Karen National Army, formerly the Karen Border Guard Force, opposite Tha Song Yang district of Thailand’s Tak province.

Meanwhile, The Irrawaddy online reported yesterday that international experts and local sources claim that the demolitions in Shwe Kokko in the previous crackdown last year were just a ruse to relieve international pressure while the scam industry continues to flourish.

Only three buildings in Shwe Kokko, out of 77 marked for demolition, were actually razed to the ground.

Jason Tower, a senior export at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, is reported by The Irrawaddy as saying that the Myanmar regime has no political will to crackdown on the scam operations, since individuals within the Karen Border Guard Force, or the KNA, continue to benefit from them.