Indonesia to question more than 500 citizens freed from Myanmar scam centres
By Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will question hundreds of its citizens arriving in the capital on Tuesday after they were rescued from online scam compounds in Myanmar, the largest batch of arrivals in the country following a multinational crackdown on the operation.
Myanmar's Myawaddy scam centres are part of a Southeast Asia network involving criminal gangs trafficking hundreds of thousands of people to help generate illicit revenues running into billions of dollars a year, according to the United Nations.
About 200 Indonesians arrived at Jakarta's airport on Tuesday morning from Myawaddy via Thailand and another 200 will land in the afternoon, the chief security minister, Budi Gunawan, said in a news conference.
Around 154 more are expected to arrive on Wednesday, Budi added. They were among 7,000 people from different nationalities freed from scam centres in Myawaddy following a multinational crackdown to dismantle the illegal compounds.
"We will conduct an assessment to find out which ones amongst them are victims or perpetrators. Because maybe some of them are the illegal players," Budi said.
"We want the Southeast Asia region free from online scams," he said.
The 554 people, consisting of 105 women and 449 men, will be taken to a dormitory usually reserved for hajj pilgrims where they will be questioned by police, he said.
Those cleared would be allowed to return home but those suspected of being willing participants in financial crimes would face legal processes in Indonesia.
Footage showed the arriving Indonesians wearing red masks and bandanas and being welcomed by authorities, including foreign minister Sugiono, after landing.
Some of them cried and hugged the officials.
Budi said some of them were beaten and electrocuted before being rescued. Others were also threatened that their body parts would be taken if they failed to meet targets set by the cartel, he added.
"Be careful when you make friends on social media. I am the victim of social media," a survivor with the initials DN told reporters.
Earlier this month, another group of 84 Indonesians returned home from Myanmar while 70 others remain in the country. Some of them were being detained and a few have refused to go home, Budi said.
Aside from Indonesia, China and India have also repatriated their citizens from Myawaddy but thousands still remain in the area including those from African nations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Prosecutors in Philippine VP's impeachment say trial must proceed
By Karen Lema and Mikhail Flores MANILA (Reuters) -Philippine prosecutors said on Wednesday there was no stopping the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, expressing bemusement at why the Senate convened a court before swiftly returning the case to the lower house. The impeachment of Duterte, a likely contender for the 2028 presidency, has dominated headlines in the Philippines this year after a high-profile grudge match between her and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr that spiralled into a bitter battle for power and influence. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in February to impeach Duterte for betrayal of public trust and high crimes, referring the case to the Senate to convene a trial. Duterte insists the impeachment is politically motivated and denies wrongdoing. But the Senate on Tuesday sent the case back to the lower house, requiring it to certify that it was lawful, a move some critics said was a tactic to try to thwart the impeachment. The decision prompted wider outrage, including from legal and church groups, who said it was a betrayal of the constitution and a shirking of the Senate's responsibility to hold public officials accountable. Congresswoman Gerville Luistro, a member of the impeachment prosecution panel, said the lower house had fulfilled its duty and the Senate's issuance of a summons to Duterte to answer charges meant it already had jurisdiction over the case. "No one can stop this anymore," Luistro told a press conference, adding the prosecution's case was strong and backed by ample evidence. "We are certain that the complaint is strictly and fully compliant with the requirements of the constitution." POLITICAL MANOEUVRE The popular daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte has been accused of budget irregularities, amassing unexplained wealth, and threatening the lives of Marcos, the first lady and and the house speaker. She faces a lifetime political ban if convicted. Senator Imee Marcos, the president's sister and now an ally of the Duterte, said there was justification in the Senate's decision and called the impeachment bid a political manoeuvre to keep Duterte out of the 2028 presidential race. Marcos has distanced himself from the impeachment and his office on Wednesday said the president was busy and not following the trial. Duterte's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Marcos, who is limited to a single term, is expected to groom a successor who can preserve his influence and legacy and defeat Duterte if she is acquitted and runs for the presidency. Outside the upper house on Wednesday, hundreds of protesters braved the rain, carrying banners demanding accountability from Duterte and calling the senators "cowards" and "traitors". The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, a prominent church group, said the decision was a betrayal of the public trust. "Allow the constitutional process to proceed without obstruction. If there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear," its president said.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine brings home bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in war with Russia
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine has brought home the bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in the war with Russia, the Kyiv officials responsible for exchanging prisoners of war said on Wednesday. In Moscow, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Ukraine for its part had returned 27 bodies of Russian soldiers. "As a result of the repatriation activities ..., the bodies of 1,212 fallen defenders have been returned to Ukraine," Kyiv's prisoner exchange coordination committee said on the Telegram messaging app. It released photos from the scene showing personnel of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at an undisclosed location, walking past several refrigerated trucks. Some trucks were marked with emblems of "On the Shield," a Ukrainian organisation involved in the retrieval and evacuation of military dead. Kyiv and Moscow reached agreement at their most recent round of talks last week on a large-scale exchange of corpses of war dead, though the deal was marred by wrangling over its implementation. On Sunday, Medinsky said Ukraine had postponed taking the first 1,212 bodies. Russian officials also said that refrigerated trucks loaded with corpses waited for five days at the border before Ukraine accepted them. Ukraine's coordination body said a deal had been reached on repatriating bodies but the date had not been finalised, and accused Russia of unilateral and uncoordinated actions. On June 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia wanted to transfer 6,000 bodies back to Ukraine, but that only about 15% of them had been identified. "We already had a moment once when they transferred bodies to us and were also transferring bodies of Russian dead soldiers," Zelenskiy said at a briefing. The 1,212 bodies will now be transferred to experts of Ukraine's Interior Ministry, law enforcement agencies and the Health Ministry who will try to ascertain their identities as soon as possible, the prisoner exchange coordination body said. On Monday, Russia and Ukraine exchanged dozens of prisoners of war under the age of 25, as well as severely wounded and ill prisoners on Tuesday, in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned swaps that could become the biggest of the war triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion. Russia and Ukraine will exchange more seriously wounded and ill prisoners of war on Thursday, Medinsky said. Fighting has raged on meanwhile with Russia saying on Monday its forces had taken control of more territory in Ukraine's east-central region of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv saying Moscow had launched its largest drone attack of the war.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
UN launches a rescue operation after 8 migrants die off Djiboutian coast
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N migration agency said Wednesday that eight migrants died and 22 others were missing after they were forced off a boat near the Djiboutian coast. The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, in a statement said the migrants were part of a group of 150 others who were forced by smugglers to disembark a boat and swim to shore on June 5. The migrants were found in the desert by IOM patrol teams and taken to a migrant response center. The IOM and authorities in Djibouti are continuing with a search and rescue operation to find the missing migrants. 'Every life lost at sea is a tragedy that should never happen,' Celestine Frantz, said IOM Regional Director for the East, Horn and Southern Africa. Frantz said that the migrants were 'forced into impossible choices by smugglers who show no regard for human life.' Thousands of migrants from African, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries seeking a better life in Europe attempt irregular migration every year. Smugglers pack vessels full of desperate people willing to risk their lives to reach continental Europe. Most of the vessels get migrants across the Red Sea to Gulf countries before they proceed further to European nations. Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work, with hundreds of thousands attempting the route each year.
