Huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked people
Operated by crime syndicates and fostered by the country’s military junta, the number of vast complexes such as KK Park on the Thai-Myanmar border has doubled since 2021
Five years ago, the land now home to KK Park – a vast, heavily guarded complex stretching for 210 hectares (520 acres) along the churning Moei River that forms Myanmar’s border with Thailand – was little more than empty fields.
Set against rugged mountains south of the town of Myawaddy, KK Park, with its on-site hospital, restaurants, bank and neat lines of villas with manicured lawns, looks more like the campus of a Silicon Valley tech company than what is really is: the frontline of a multibillion-dollar criminal fraud industry fuelled by human trafficking and brutal violence, reports 'The Guardian'.
In September 2024, it was first reported by Indian immigration officials that at least 30,000 Indians including a large number of Chrstians who went to South East Asia did not return.
It was termed a matter of deep concern for common people, career aspirants
and the government authorities as well.
However, a section of western media including run by Church funding had dismissed the reports.
An estimated 30,000 Indians who went to Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines between Jan 2022 and May 2024 on visitor visas did not return home, it was reported in 2024.
A large number of Indians, especially educated youths, are reportedly being lured into Southeast Asian countries including the likes of Myanmar and Thailand by the promise of high-paying jobs.
But in the ultimate those lured are only "trapped" in what has been described
as ‘cyber slavery’.
Officials in the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home under the Govt of India, say even individuals from different northeastern states and mostly Christians have been lured and trapped.
These included (2024) 33 from Nagaland, 38 from Manipur, 92 from Assam, 20 from Sikkim, 18 from Meghalaya, 14 from Mizoram, 12 from Tripura and six from Arunachal Pradesh.
Nagland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are three Christian-majority states mostly Baptists in Nagaland and Mizoram while states such as Assam and Tripura have Hindu majority but a substantial number of tribal Christians.
The state of Manipur also has Christian Kukis, Zo people and Nagas.
The "victims" are reportedly coerced into conducting cyber fraud and other illegal activities - most often under the threat of violence.
Often they are also 'told' that if they do not follow instructions their passports will never be returned and they will rot behind bars.
The Govt of India confirms that the last two years have seen a rapid increase in cyber crimes in India.
Punjab topped the list and sources further said at least 29,466 Indians who traveled to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam between January 2022 and May 2024 on visitor visas e not returned.
Punjab has an overwhelming Sikh population.
The victims are also from so-called developed/advanced and cash-rich Indian states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Notably, Thailand alone is responsible for over 69 percent of these cases, with 20,450 individuals reported missing.
According to the data, 2,946 are from Uttar Pradesh, 2,659 from Kerala, 2,140 from Delhi, 2,068 from Gujarat, 1,928 from Haryana, 1,200 from Karnataka, 1,169 from Telangana and 1,041 from Rajasthan.
A high-level inter-ministerial panel set by the federal Govt in Delhi
has now directed all States to conduct ground-level verification and get details of these people.
The Bureau of Immigration is learnt to have shared the data at a meeting held by the federal Home Ministry with officials of the telecom department, Financial Intelligence Unit, Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, NIA, CBI, security experts of other agencies.
 |
| file snap - representational only |
Now 2025 report by London-based newspaper says --
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have in recent years become havens for transnational crime syndicates running scam centres such as KK Park, which use enslaved workers to run complex online fraud and scamming schemes that generate huge profits.
There have been some attempts to crack down on the centres and rescue the workers, who can be subjected to torture and trapped inside. But drone images and new research shared exclusively with the Guardian reveal that the number of such centres operating along the Thai-Myanmar border has more than doubled since Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, with construction continuing to this day.
Data from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), a defence thinktank in Canberra, shows that the number of Myanmar scam centres on the Thai border has increased from 11 to 27, and they have expanded in size by an average of 5.5 hectares a month.
Drone images and photographs of KK Park and other Myanmar scam centres, Tai Chang and Shwe Kokko, taken by the Guardian in August show new features and active building work.
Drone and satellite imagery seen by the Guardian of other scam centres inside Myanmar show strong fortifications and security systems. The Dongmei Park compound is surrounded by fencing and guarded by a checkpoint and perimeter watchtowers, according to analysis by Aspi.
No comments:
Post a Comment