STRUGGLING TO COPE
The United Nations estimates that as many as 120,000 people – many of them Chinese men – may be working in Myanmar scam centres against their will.
Gangs that run the compounds lure people with promises of high-paying jobs, then force them to defraud people from around the world or face severe punishment and abuse.
The sites on the Thai-Myanmar border vary in how they treat their staff, analysts say, and Thai officials have claimed that a majority of workers go there intentionally.
Victims released from smaller compounds claim that as a more sophisticated operation, Shwe Kokko – one of the area’s biggest scam hubs – draws more people who willingly go there to commit fraud.
But “not everyone living in Shwe Kokko is a criminal,” Naing Maung Zaw said.
A Chinese man surnamed Shen denied allegations that the scam centre workers had travelled to Myanmar intentionally, saying he had been tricked and forced.
“If I did it voluntarily, I would take all legal responsibilities,” he said.
But so far China has treated all returning detainees – 600 were sent back last week – as suspects, with state TV showing them marched off the plane in handcuffs by police on their return home.
Thailand, Myanmar and China are expected to hold three-way talks in the coming weeks to arrange logistics for further repatriations, with Thailand saying it is working with over a dozen foreign embassies.
One of 14 detained Pakistani men who hoped to return before Ramadan said he felt abandoned by authorities after hearing of other repatriations.
“We know we’re safe now. But it’s been eight days. So why can’t we go to Thailand now?” he told AFP.
Stretched for resources to look after the hundreds of foreigners in their charge, Naing Maung Zaw pleaded to foreign embassies to “come and take your nationals … They want to go home”.
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