Myanmar troops destroy 101 buildings in notorious KK Park scam centre

Myanmar government troops have demolished 101 buildings in the notorious KK Park cybercrime centre, in Myanmar’s Myawaddy province, suspected to house Chinese-run online call centres, according to Myanmar’s Popular News Journal, a Burmese weekly newspaper.

Myanmar troops used heavy machinery to dismantle 83 buildings and 18 buildings were brought down using explosives, said the journal, adding that there are still 47 buildings, which have been targeted for demolition in a major operation to crack down on criminal activities in KK Park.

The KK Park is located in the southern part of Myawaddy province, opposite Ban Ku Mae Sung village in Mae Sot district of Thailand’s Tak province. Protected by armed anti-government Karen forces, namely the Burmese Guard Force (BGF) and the Karen National Liberation Army, the notorious global scam centre came under intense attack by Myanmar’s military and their renegade Karen force between October 16th and 22nd, forcing over 1,500 suspected scammers of various nationalities to flee into Mae Sot district.

Among the escapees were more than 240 Indian suspects, who have all been blacklisted as persona non grata by the Thai immigration Bureau and deported to India on Thursday in an Indian military transport plane.

While the KK Park scam centre has fallen under the control of Myanmar troops, two other notorious transnational cybercrime hubs along the Thai-Myanmar border, Shwe Kokko, located opposite Thailand’s Mae Sot and Mae Ramat districts of Tak, and the Tai Chang project, opposite Phop Phra district of Tak remain intact and flourishing.

Shwe Kokko is protected by the BGF, under the leadership of Colonel Saw Chit Thu, while the Tai Chang project is protected by Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) forces.

In January this year, the Thai government cut power, internet and fuel supplies to five areas in Myanmar, including KK Park and Shwe Kokko and the Three Pagodas Pass, opposite Kanchanaburi province, as part of efforts to crack down on transnational cybercrime, the operators of which have preyed on people around the World.