US puts sanctions on Myanmar warlord and militia linked to cyber scams, World News
WASHINGTON -The United States imposed sanctions on Monday (May 5) on a Myanmar warlord, his two sons and the militia he leads for facilitating cyber scams, human trafficking and cross-border smuggling, the Treasury Department said.
The Treasury said the warlord, Saw Chit Thu, is a central figure in a network of illicit and highly lucrative cyberscam operations targeting Americans. Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs across Southeast Asia in recent years and forced to work in the scam operations, according to the United Nations.
The move puts financial sanctions on Saw Chit Thu, the Karen National Army that he heads, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, the department said in a statement, freezing any US assets they may hold and generally barring Americans from doing business with them.
Britain and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Saw Chit Thu.
The Karen National Army is headquartered in Shwe Kokko, a so-called "Special Economic Zone" along the Thai-Myanmar border, where the militia leases land and provides security for compounds where trafficked individuals are forced into scamming strangers online, the statement said.
"Cyber scam operations, such as those run by the KNA, generate billions in revenue for criminal kingpins and their associates, while depriving victims of their hard-earned savings and sense of security," said Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender.
Naing Maung Zaw, a spokesperson for the KNA, said Saw Chit Thu was saddened by news of the US sanctions but that they "will not affect us in any way".
"I really cannot understand why this happened when we ... are working to crack down on scam centres and repatriate victims to their respective countries," Naing Maung Zaw said. "We will continue the work we have started."
Saw Chit Thu's ties to Myanmar's military rulers, evidenced by an honorary title for "outstanding performance" conferred on him by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in November 2022, have helped him build his position.
[[nid:714795]]
Washington has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Myanmar's junta and its sources of income since the military toppled the elected government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, igniting a spiraling civil war.
Monday's sanctions were the first Myanmar-related sanctions imposed since President Donald Trump took office in January.
The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network last week proposed banning Cambodian financial firm Huione Group from the US financial system over its alleged role in laundering illicit funds from cyber heists and online scams.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Thailand cuts border crossing hours with Cambodia over security
FILE PHOTO: A royalist activist holds a Thai flag as he protests in front of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia, following a recent clash at the Thailand-Cambodia border on May 28, 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand, June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa/File Photo BANGKOK - Thailand shortened operating hours at 10 border crossings with Cambodia, citing security concerns, as tensions between the two countries simmered after a deadly clash last month. A day earlier, both the Southeast Asian countries reinforced their military presence along disputed border areas, Thailand's defence minister said. The two governments have exchanged statements, saying they were committed to finding a peaceful resolution after a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash on May 28 in an undemarcated border area. Checkpoints, including the busiest in Thailand's eastern province of Sa Kaeo, halved operating hours to 8 a.m. (0100 GMT) to 4 p.m. local time, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., previously, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters on Sunday. Thailand operates 17 official border crossings with Cambodia, spanning seven provinces along their shared 817-km (508 miles) frontier, government data shows. "These are no immediate closure orders at border checkpoints. Rather, they are gradual and appropriate to the circumstances in specific areas," he said, adding the situation along the border remained calm. Residents near the Aranyaprathet-Poipet crossing in Sa Kaeo said the atmosphere was calm. "It surprised people a bit, but shops stayed open and most locals crossed back normally," said a staff member at Manue Home Stay, who gave his name only as Rong. Cambodia's Foreign Ministry reiterated a request to bring the border disputes to the International Court of Justice in a letter to Thai officials on June 6. "Given the complexity, historical nature, and sensitivity of these disputes, it is increasingly evident that bilateral dialogue alone may no longer suffice to bring about a comprehensive and lasting solution," Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said it the note, shared with reporters on Sunday. "A decision rendered by the ICJ, grounded in international law, would offer a fair, impartial, and durable resolution," he said. The Thai government has said it does not recognise the court's jurisdiction and proposed that all boundary-related issues be resolved through bilateral negotiations, with talks scheduled for June 14. Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at undemarcated points along their shared border, which was mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony. Tension escalated in 2008 over an 11th-century Hindu temple, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a week-long exchange of artillery in 2011. Both governments have enjoyed warm ties, from a close friendship between former leaders, Thaksin Shinawatra from Thailand and Cambodia's Hun Sen. Thaksin's daughter and Hun Sen's son are the incumbent prime ministers of their countries. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump rewarding loyalists with pardon spree
US President Donald Trump is doling out pardons 'that look like they're almost quid pro quo for financial donations', said a law professor. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - Reality TV stars. Former lawmakers. A sheriff. A nursing home executive. A drug kingpin. What do they have in common? They are among the Americans convicted of crimes who have received pardons from President Donald Trump since he took office in January. And while US presidents have doled out questionable pardons in the past, Mr Trump is doing so 'in a bigger, more aggressive way with sort of no sense of shame,' said Professor Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. 'The pardon power has always been a little bit problematic because it's this completely unconstrained power that the president has,' Professor Roosevelt told AFP. 'Most presidents have issued at least some pardons where people look at them and they say: 'This seems to be self-serving' or 'This seems to be corrupt in some way.'' But Mr Trump is doling out pardons 'that look like they're almost quid pro quo for financial donations,' Professor Roosevelt said. Among those receiving a pardon was Mr Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive convicted of tax crimes and whose mother attended a US$1-million-per-plate (S$1.28 million) fund-raising dinner at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in April. Other beneficiaries of Trump pardons include reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were serving lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion. Their daughter, Ms Savannah, is a prominent Trump supporter and gave a speech at 2024's Republican National Convention. More than half a dozen former Republican lawmakers convicted of various crimes have also received pardons, along with a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking US$75,000 in bribes. On his first day in office, Mr Trump pardoned more than 1,500 supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021 as they sought to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. The next day, Mr Trump pardoned Mr Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence for running the 'Silk Road' online marketplace that facilitated millions of dollars of drug sales. 'Just another deal' Ms Barbara McQuade, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Michigan, said Mr Trump is not the first president to be accused of 'allowing improper factors to influence their pardon decisions'. Former US president Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, Mr Bill Clinton's pardon of a commodities trader whose wife was a major Democratic donor and Biden's pardon of his son, Mr Hunter, and other family members all drew some criticism. '(But) Trump is in a class by himself in both scope and shamelessness,' Ms McQuade said in a Bloomberg opinion column. 'To him, pardons are just another deal. 'As long as a defendant can provide something of value in return, no crime seems too serious,' she said. Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, in a letter to Mr Ed Martin, Mr Trump's pardon attorney at the Justice Department, asked what criteria are being used to recommend pardons. 'It at least appears that you are using the Office of the Pardon Attorney to dole out pardons as favours to the President's loyal political followers and most generous donors,' Mr Raskin wrote. Mr Martin for his part has made no secret of the partisan nature of the pardons recommended by his office. 'No Maga left behind,' Mr Martin said on X after the pardon of the bribe-taking Virginia sheriff, a reference to Mr Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan. Professor Lee Kovarsky, a University of Texas law professor, said Mr Trump's 'pardon spree' opens up a 'menacing new frontier of presidential power' that he calls 'patronage pardoning'. By reducing the penalty for misconduct, Mr Trump is making a 'public commitment to protect and reward loyalism, however criminal,' Professor Kovarsky said in a New York Times opinion piece. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Straits Times
Pussy Riot co-founder back in prison cell
Nadya Tolokonnikova is staging a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression. PHOTO: AFP Los Angeles - Nadya Tolokonnikova, the co-founder of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, is back in a prison cell - but this time, she has gone willingly. At the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Russian activist is staging 'Police State' - a two-week piece of performance art aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of authoritarianism and oppression. Tolokonnikova - who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for performing a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012 - knows a bit about the topic. Through the installation, which opened on June 5 and runs through June 14, she says she hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control - technology. While she is in the mock cell, during all museum opening hours, she will eat, use the toilet, sew clothes as she once did in her real cell and create 'soundscapes'. Visitors can observe her through holes in the cell or on security camera footage. 'People don't treat authoritarianism seriously,' Tolokonnikova told AFP. Seated in a makeshift Russian prison cell, wearing a green tracksuit, the 35-year-old activist says in several countries, the concept of a 'police state' is expanding. 'As someone who lived under authoritarian rule for over 25 years, I know how real it is and how it starts, step by step, on the arrest of one person. You think, 'Well, it's not about me',' she explained. 'And then next thing we know, the entire country is under the military boot.' 'We all have to contribute' For Tolokonnikova, US President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January has sparked an 'erosion of the system of checks and balances', which she deemed 'very dangerous'. She says the artistic community, and society in general, should do more to counter governmental abuses of power, wherever they may occur, and stop 'outsourcing politics and political action'. 'I feel like it's as if there is someone else who's going to save us from everything. That's not what works really. We all have to contribute.' Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova hopes to teach visitors about what she believes to be the advent of a new means of control - technology. PHOTO: AFP Some who visited the installation said they agreed with Tolokonnikova that society had become too passive. 'I feel like Americans don't want to believe that we could be in danger of losing our freedoms,' said Ms Jimmie Akin, a graphic designer who said she was worried about the policy changes since Mr Trump took office. 'People need to wake up.' Sewing machine and Navalny For 29-year-old Hannah Tyler, 'Police State' was a bit of a shock to the system. 'We're living in a country where we aren't facing the same extreme oppression that she did in Russia, but getting close to it. I felt inspired to take more action than I have been,' Ms Tyler said. Visitors can observe Tolokonnikova through holes in the cell or on security camera footage. PHOTO: AFP Tolokonnikova's installation has some symbolic features. She has books and artworks made by Russian, US and Belarusian prisoners, as well as a drawing by the brother of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A sewing machine recalls the manual labour of her incarceration. Words of protest are carved into the walls. For Ms Alex Sloane, the museum's associate curator, the installation shows how 'increased surveillance and government overreach' are becoming more and more widespread, and 'freedoms are at risk.' 'We should do all that we can to make sure' that such circumstances are kept at bay, Ms Sloane said. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
