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number of people fleeing myanmar To Thailand A commander of the Thai regional army said on Tuesday that the pace of action has slowed after Myanmar’s military shut down a major online scam center that had taken down more than 1,500 people in the past week.
The KK Park site, identified by Thai authorities and independent experts as a major cybercrime operation, was raided by the Myanmar military in mid-October as part of an operation that began in early September to suppress cross-border online scams and illegal gambling.
The center is located on the outskirts of Myawaddy, a major trading town on the border with the Thai city of Mae Sot. The Myawaddy region is under the sole control of Myanmar’s military government, and shares power with allied local militias there. Karen Ethnic minorities are serving as border guards.
Witnesses on the Thai side of the border reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke billowing from the center over the past several nights, starting on Friday.
The Thai military’s Naresuan Task Force, which operates in Thailand’s northern region, said on Monday that parts of KK Park were demolished by explosions carried out by Myanmar’s military and its border guard allies. Debris from the explosions damaged several houses on the Thai side of the border.
The commander of the task force, Maj. Gen. Maitri Chupricha, told The Associated Press that 25 people from four countries crossed into Thailand on Tuesday, though he did not identify their nationality.
Most of those who fled Myanmar are believed to have worked at the centre, often under duress. Authorities in Thailand’s Tak province, which have set up temporary shelters for them, said they come from 28 countries, including Thailand. They are being processed to determine whether they were victims of human trafficking and can then be deported back to their home countries, which include India, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Myanmar is notorious for operating cyber scams, recruiting many of its workers from other countries under false pretenses, promising them legitimate jobs and then holding them captive and forcing them to carry out criminal activities. Myanmar’s independent media, including online news service The Irrawaddy, have reported that online scams in Myanmar continue in the Myawaddy region following the raid on KK Park.
cambodia Another major center of such operations, which attracted international attention on October 14, is United States of America And the United Kingdom imposed sanctions against organizers of a major Cambodian cyber scam ring, and its alleged ringleader was convicted by a US federal court in New York.