Chinese assistant minister to meet Karen warlord about scams and human trafficking

Chinese Assistant Minister for Public Safety Liu Zhongyi is scheduled to meet the leader of the Karen Border Force (BGF), Saw Chit Thu, in Myawaddy township today, to discuss cooperation on the suppression of scam call centres in Myanmar border towns and the rescue of victims of human trafficking.

This will be Liu’s third visit to Myanmar in less than a week. He was in Myawaddy yesterday to inspect the township and, last Friday, he met with Myanmar Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung in Nay Pyi Taw, reportedly to discuss the problem of online scam networks in Myanmar border townships.

Liu Zhongyi, Chinese Assistant Minister for Public Safety, visits the call-centre victim in Myawaddy, Myanmar.

It was disclosed that the Myanmar government had imposed a ban on the delivery of fuel to Myawaddy and other towns where scam call centres are operating.

Liu is due to meet Thai deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai in Bangkok this Wednesday for discussions about and assessment of the tough measures undertaken by the Thai government to deal with the call centres in Myanmar, especially the cuts in supplies of electricity, fuel and internet to five locations in Myawaddy, Tachileik and Payathonzu border towns since February 5th.

Regarding the Department of Special Investigation’s plan to issue an arrest warrant for Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu, Phumtham said that the issue is “insignificant”, because the warlord is now cooperating with China.

The crackdown on call centres in Myawaddy last week, by the BGF, resulted in the rescue of 731 people, most of them Chinese nationals. All of them are expected to be sent to Thailand soon via the Second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot district.

Saw Chit Thu has claimed that most of the call centre leaders are scattered across Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, while those in Myanmar are just the managers or administrators.

About 2,000 people, of various nationalities, are to be sent to Thailand, this week, via Mae Sot, but Thai officials have suggested that their Burmese counterparts submit a full list, complete with their names, nationalities, genders and photos, to be screened before their actual transfer into Thailand.

People’s party MP Rangsiman Rome, who is in Tak province today, said that the returnees should go through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) screening process.

As head of the House committee on national security and border affairs, Rangsiman said the committee has discussed all 59 border crossings between Tak and Myawaddy with local officials and the private sector in Tak and whether they should be closed to prevent their use by human trafficking gangs.

Meanwhile, Pol Lt-Gen Trairong Phiwpan, commissioner of Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, offered an apology today, saying that he was incorrect when he said last week that most of the 260 foreigners sent back to Thailand from Myawaddy so far went to Myanmar voluntarily and that only a handful were actually trafficked.