More than 7,000 foreigners rescued from international scam call centres in Shwe Kokko and KK Park in Myawaddy, Myanmar are waiting to be repatriated to their home countries, according to the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF).
The BGF has sent a list of names of 7,141 people from 28 nationalities to Thailand’s Ratchamanu Task Force for processing, according to local media reports. They included 6,716 men and 425 women.
The largest group of victims is reportedly from China, with 4,860 individuals (4,764 men and 96 women), followed by Vietnam (511 men and 61 women), India (498 men and 28 women), Ethiopia (396 men and 34 women), Indonesia (217 men and 66 women), the Philippines (54 men and 73 women), Malaysia (65 men and 4 women), Pakistan (64 men and 4 women), Kenya (38 men and 26 women) and Taiwan (24 men and one woman).
The BGF, an 8,000-strong army headed by Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu, has long profited from a steady stream of income from criminal enterprises in Myawaddy, according to analysts. Its allegiances tend to shift depending on the circumstances, but for now it is aligned with the Myanmar junta and is trying to get into the good books of the international community.
Saw Chit Thu has actively overseen the victim rescue operation and crackdown on those who were involved in human trafficking, ever since Thailand cut power, oil and internet to five sites in three Myanmar border townships on Feb 16.
The locations are believed to have housed Chinese-run call centres, which have been preying, with impunity, on victims in China, Thailand and elsewhere for years.
However, the abduction by scammers of a Chinese actor — and the resulting publicity in Thailand’s biggest tourist market — finally goaded authorities into action.
All rescued individuals have now been screened by nationality, and the BGF is calling on the Thai government and other nations to expedite their repatriation.
The foreigners currently remain in Myanmar, waiting for their embassies to arrange their return. However, Thai authorities are reportedly reluctant to allow them to cross into Thailand if the destination countries are not ready to receive them.
