Myanmar military arrests more than 2,000 people at infamous scam centre

According to state media, Myanmar’s military reported that it has detained more than 2, 000 people in a raid on the infamous scam center on the border with Thailand, KK Park.

The sprawling compound was the site of international criminal syndicates’ activities on Monday, according to the Myanmar Alin daily.

According to the media report, operations were distributed throughout more than 250 low-rise buildings. Warehouses, shophouses, and numerous one- and two-story structures were among them.

According to Myanmar Alin, the military also seized 30 Starlink satellites during the raid.

Even during power outages, the satellites are built and operated by Starlink, a division of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which can keep buildings connected to the internet.

Despite the newspaper’s inability to disclose their nationalities, 2, 198 people were also detained, including 445 women, 1, 645 men, and 98 male security guards.

Myawaddy Township, which is located just across the river from Mae Sot, a Thai border town, is where KK Park is located.

According to Myanmar Alin, the military, the People’s Defence Force, the armed branch of Myanmar’s National Unity Government, which was established by elected lawmakers and operates from exile after it was ousted in the 2021 military coup, and armed Karen ethnic groups have recently fought in the area.

Since the coup in 2021, there have been clashes between the military, armed opposition groups, and ethnic armies in Myanmar.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Major-General Zaw Min Tun, a military spokesman, said on Monday in a statement that the top leaders of the Karen National Union, one of the organizations fighting the military, were involved in the KK Park scam projects.

Thailand and China have pressed Myanmar to reduce the activity of scam centers, which has drawn in criminal organizations, particularly Chinese crime syndicates.

Chinese actor Wang Xing was trafficked to a scam center in January, and Thai police later recovered him.

According to rights groups, the scam center employees frequently become victims of human trafficking, lured into doing so under the guise of a slave-like environment.

According to Reuters, Thai police estimate that up to 100 000 people are engaged in fraud at the Thai-Myanmar border alone.

Over the past five years, there have been numerous Scam Centers in Southeast Asia, but Myanmar and Cambodia have been their epicenters. They annually bring in billions of dollars for international criminal organizations.