Scam hubs on Thai-Myanmar border still have up to 100,000 people, Thai police says
By Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat
(Reuters) - Despite a weeks-long multinational crackdown, scam centres along the Thai-Myanmar border are still operating with up to 100,000 people working there, the top police general leading Thailand's operations against the fraud compounds told Reuters.
Thailand is fronting a regional effort to dismantle scam centres along its borders, which are part of a Southeast Asian network of illegal facilities that generate billions of dollars every year, often using people trafficked there by criminal gangs, according to the United Nations.
Based on early assessments of some of the 5,000 people pulled out of sprawling scam hubs in Myanmar's Myawaddy area, hundreds went there voluntarily, said Police General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, calling for careful investigations among nationals of over a dozen countries to winnow out criminals.
"Many people use Thailand as a pathway to sneak themselves into Myawaddy to find work, and this is not just the call centre gangs but also online gambling work and other professions," Thatchai said in an interview.
His comments run counter to widespread reports that scam centre workers in and around Myawaddy were victims, lured to go there by criminal bosses.
Jason Tower, an analyst with the U.S. Institute of Peace and an expert on regional scam centres, said that many people who willingly travelled to areas such as Myawaddy were trapped in conducting scamming operations.
"Many did go in willingly, only discovering that they had been trafficked later," he said.
Several former scam workers describe being trapped in the compounds, where they were forced to trick strangers online into transferring large amounts of money, often pretending to be romantic interests.
Although these scam centres have operated for years, they came under renewed scrutiny following the abduction of a Chinese actor Wang Xing in Thailand in January, who was later rescued from Myawaddy.
The incident sparked a social media firestorm in China, and Beijing dispatched officials to Thailand to coordinate operations targeted at breaking up scam hubs like Myawaddy and rescuing scores of its citizens, many of whom now have been flown home.
"Since the Wang Xing case, there were 3,600 foreigners who travelled Mae Sot, and we did not find one who was tricked or coerced to come," Thatchai said, citing information gathered by police checkpoints set up in the Thai district bordering Myawaddy.
Among some 260 people from 20 nationalities who were sent from Myawaddy to Thailand in February as the crackdown gathered steam, most were not coerced, according to initial investigations conducted by Thai authorities, Thatchai said.
"These people went there voluntarily," Thatchai said, adding that he is waiting on information from countries including China and India that have repatriated hundreds of their nationals on whether they had been trafficked to scam centres in Myawaddy.
MULTINATIONAL COORDINATION
Thatchai said the crackdown so far has only affected a fraction of the vast operations in Myawaddy, which lies across a narrow river from the Thai town of Mae Sot.
"It could be up to 50,000 or 100,000 people that are still left because we are still seeing their operations," he said, based on Thai police intelligence as well as information gathered by Chinese authorities, who have identified at least 3,700 criminals continuing to operate in the area.
Since February, more than 5,200 people have been extricated from scamming facilities in and around Myawaddy, according to Thai police citing Myanmar authorities. Over 3,500 have been sent back to their home countries via Thailand, which has also cut off electricity, internet and fuel supplies to the area.
With scam workers hailing from a wide range of countries, Thatchai said he is pushing for a multinational coordination centre to repatriate, investigate and share information to prosecute criminals involved in the fraud operations.
Suspected criminals extricated from Myawaddy and other scam hubs should be prosecuted in their home countries, and the Thai police are ready to help wherever necessary, Thatchai said.
The main focus of Thai authorities currently is to help coordinate the return of scam centre victims to their home countries, with thousands of former workers still stuck in limbo on the Thai-Myanmar border, including some who are struggling to find their way back because of a lack of funds.
"We have to discharge people as quickly as possible," Thatchai said. "So that the Myanmar authorities and ethnic armed groups can conduct more crackdowns."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US Marines arrive in LA; California governor warns 'democracy under assault'
By Brad Brooks, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Dietrich Knauth LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday under orders from President Donald Trump, ratcheting up tensions in America's second largest city as California's governor warned "democracy is under assault." Trump's extraordinary measures of sending National Guard and Marines to quell protests, which broke out in response to his immigration raids, fueled demonstrations for a fifth day in Los Angeles, and sparked protests in several other cities. As Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom traded fulminations, the city's mayor said the protests were limited to about five downtown streets, but declared a curfew for parts of the downtown area due to violence and looting. Police said multiple groups stayed on the streets in some areas despite the curfew and "mass arrests are being initiated". Police earlier said that 197 people had already been arrested on Tuesday - more than double the total number of arrests to date. Democratic leaders have raised concerns over a national crisis in what has become the most intense flashpoint yet in the Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants living in the country illegally, and then crack down on opponents who take to the streets in protest. "This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began," Newsom said in an a video address. "He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. ... Democracy is under assault." Newsom, widely seen as preparing for a presidential run in 2028, has called the deployments an illegal waste of resources. He and the state sued Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump in turn has suggested Newsom should be arrested. Trump, voted back into office last year largely for his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, used a speech honoring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision. He told troops at the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina: "Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness." "What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags," Trump said, adding his administration would "liberate Los Angeles." UNREST IN THE STREETS Demonstrators have waved the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity for the migrants rounded up in a series of intensifying raids. Homeland Security said on Monday its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday announced a curfew for one square mile (2.5 square km) of downtown Los Angeles that will run from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. locally (0300 to 1300 GMT) for several days. With five minutes until the curfew took effect, hundreds of protesters faced police with their hands raised, chanting "peaceful protest." Even so, state and local officials have called Trump's response an extreme over-reaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations. Bass emphasized at a press conference the distinction between the majority of demonstrators protesting peacefully and a smaller number of agitators she blamed for violence and looting. A curfew had been considered for several days but Bass said she decided to impose one after 23 business were looted on Monday night. "When these peaceful rallies end, and the protesters head home, another element moves in: opportunists, who come in under the cover of a peaceful protest to ravage and destroy," Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents the area, told reporters. As the mayor and the council member spoke, police and protesters were engaged in skirmishes outside. In what has become a daily ritual, police forced demonstrators away from the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where many detained migrants are held. Multiple groups of protesters snaked through downtown Los Angeles, monitored or followed by police armed with less lethal munitions. Protests also took place in other cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers. Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted that ICE should be abolished. Christina Berger, 39, said it was heartbreaking to hear about children who are afraid of being separated from their families due to immigration raids, adding, "I just want to give some hope to my friends and neighbors." MARINES AT THE READY About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a U.S. official said. A U.S. official said there were 2,100 National Guard troops in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, more than half the 4,000 to be activated. The Marines and National Guard troops lack the authority to makes arrests and will be charged only with protecting federal property and personnel. Even so, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, saying there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. "Protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law," Bonta said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday posted photos on X of National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid. Trump administration officials have vowed to redouble the immigration raids in response to the street protests.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Criminals turn to drones and social media to sell illegal cigarettes
LONDON (Reuters) -Tobacco smugglers and black market salesmen are increasingly using technologies such as social media and drones to deliver cigarettes to smokers in Europe and avoid law enforcers, a report by consulting group KPMG published on Wednesday found. The report, produced annually and commissioned by Philip Morris International, looks at illegal consumption of cigarettes on the continent - which big tobacco companies say costs them sales and authorities say costs them tax revenues. In 2024, KPMG found that almost 40 billion illicit cigarettes were consumed across 38 European nations, based in part on a study of empty packs collected in those countries. It also cited interviews with law enforcement. The gangs' flexible strategies have helped to drive a 10.8% increase in illicit consumption versus 2023, according to KPMG, which also attributed the rise to higher taxes and prices in markets including France and the Netherlands. The report said criminal groups had shifted towards smuggling smaller packages, more often, via budget airlines. They are also making greater use of rail and drones, and are increasingly bypassing physical stores to sell directly to consumers on social media, it continued. The more recent change in tactics follows another shift from 2020, when the groups moved production closer to end-markets, partly in response to the pandemic disruption, but also reducing the chance of detection. KPMG said in 2024 the groups had also begun holding less inventory, which is reflected in a decrease in the size of illicit cigarette seizures as the gangs mitigate their risks and reduce the impact of raids by law enforcers. Big tobacco companies say tax increases have driven growth in illicit cigarette consumption. Public health campaigners and institutions such as the World Bank, however, have said such claims are overblown and that high taxes can support public health by reducing tobacco consumption, while generating revenues for governments.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
US immigration officials raid meat production plant in Omaha, dozens detained
By Kanishka Singh and Kristina Cooke WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An immigration raid on Tuesday at a meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska was the "largest worksite enforcement operation" in the state during the Trump presidency, the Homeland Security Department said. U.S. Congressman Don Bacon told local media 75-80 people were detained. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid happened at a plant of Glenn Valley Foods. The food packaging company said it was surprised by the raid and had followed the rules regarding immigration status. Chad Hartmann, president of Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, said the plant that was raided used E-Verify, a federal database used for checking employees' immigration status. He told Reuters that when he said this to a federal agent, the agent responded "the system is broken" and urged him to contact his local congressional representative. ICE officers have been intensifying efforts in recent weeks to deliver on U.S. President Donald Trump's promise of record-level deportations. The White House has demanded the agency sharply increase arrests of migrants in the U.S. illegally, sources have told Reuters. Tensions boiled over in Los Angeles over the weekend when protesters took to the streets after ICE arrested migrants at Home Depot stores, a garment factory and a warehouse, according to migrant advocates. Local police in Omaha said they were informed by immigration officials about the raid in advance while the company said it got no notice about the operation ahead of time. Hartmann said federal agents had a warrant that said they had identified 107 people who they believed were using fraudulent documents. "This was the largest worksite enforcement operation in Nebraska under the Trump Administration," the Homeland Security Department said on X, adding no law enforcement official was hurt. ICE said a criminal investigation was ongoing into what immigration officials called a large-scale employment of immigrants who are present in the U.S. illegally. "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and federal law enforcement partners, executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods, today, based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States," an ICE spokesperson told an ABC News affiliate. More than half of all meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank. Rights advocates, including the ACLU of Nebraska, condemned the raid.
