MAE SOT – Border security forces in Mae Sot are keeping a close watch as Myanmar Junta troops prepare to demolish more buildings tied to rebel forces protecting scam gangs at KK Park, the Chinese-run special economic zone in Myawaddy.
Three buildings have already been blown up. Foreigners, both victims and members of scam operations, continue to flee across the Moei River into Mae Sot, Thailand. The total crossing has now exceeded one thousand.
On Friday, reporters in Myawaddy confirmed fresh progress after the Myanmar Junta forces moved in to dismantle Chinese-linked scam networks inside KK Park, Myawaddy, Kayin State. The operation has run for more than three days.
Troops have encircled and taken control of all areas within KK Park.
They have already destroyed three buildings used by Chinese grey groups and their protection units. Soldiers also opened detention sites where victims from several countries were held and forced to run cyber fraud. Armed guards had been securing the compound and collecting profits around the site.
The demolitions have triggered a mass escape. Members of the Chinese grey networks, along with other foreign nationals who either chose to work there or were coerced, are fleeing KK Park by any means.
Many are crossing the Moei River to Mae Sot, Tak. Thai authorities have detained arrivals and moved them to controlled areas. As of this morning, 24 Oct, 1,049 people were in custody, and the number is rising.
A grim scene has emerged on the river. Bodies of Chinese nationals who tried to escape from KK Park were found floating in the Moei River after attempting to swim to the Thai side.
They likely could not fight the strong current and drowned. At least two bodies were seen in the river with no immediate recovery on either side of the border.
Earlier counts showed the largest group was Indian, 399 people, followed by Chinese, 147, with Vietnamese, Filipino, Ethiopian, Pakistani, Indonesian and Nepalese nationals also included.
There were Thai citizens as well, 31 people. All arrivals were moved for screening to Mae Sot Police Station, Border Patrol Police Company 346 and the Special Operations Centre at the second Mae Sot permanent border checkpoint.
Thai security forces, including the Ratchamanu Task Force, district officials, multiple police units and village volunteers in Mae Sot, have set up checkpoints along the Moei River road near the Thai-Myanmar border. Units are deployed at informal river crossings to intercept foreign nationals coming over around the clock.
Authorities are supplying food, drinking water and basic medicines to all who fled across the border in Tak. Teams are quickly identifying anyone with criminal cases and separating victims who were trafficked or forced to work in scam centres, then proceeding under Thai law.
KK Park, a massive and heavily fortified compound in Myanmar’s Myawaddy Township near the Thai border, has become globally infamous as a major hub for transnational cybercrime and human trafficking.
This sprawling complex, which operates outside significant central government control, is primarily run by Chinese criminal syndicates and allied local militias, functioning as a factory for pig butchering scams, investment fraud, and illegal gambling, collectively generating billions.
Victims from across the world, including Thailand and other Asian and African nations, are lured with false promises of high-paying jobs, only to be imprisoned under slave-like conditions, forced to run online scams, and reportedly subjected to abuse and torture to meet strict targets.
Recent military operations by the Myanmar junta have prompted hundreds of these trapped workers to flee, risking their lives to cross the Moei River into Thailand’s Mae Sot district, creating an urgent humanitarian and border security crisis for Thai authorities as they work to screen the arrivals for trafficking victims and process illegal entries.
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