India is preparing to send an aircraft to repatriate around 500 of its citizens who fled into Thailand following a Myanmar military raid on a notorious cybercrime compound, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday(October 29) .

According to local authorities, Myanmar’s army launched a major crackdown last week on the ‘KK Park’ compound ,a well-known hub for online fraud and human trafficking forcing over 1,500 people from 28 different countries to cross into Thailand’s Mae Sot border town.

The region bordering ‘Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia’ has emerged as a center for transnational online fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the United Nations estimating that ‘billions of dollars’ have been generated by criminal networks exploiting trafficked workers.

KK Park, operated largely by 'Chinese criminal syndicates' and protected by local militias aligned with Myanmar’s military, has long been associated with large-scale cyber scams targeting victims across Asia.

Prime Minister Anutin said India’s ambassador would meet Thailand’s immigration chief to expedite the verification process for the Indian nationals before their return flight.

 “They don’t want this to burden us,” Anutin told reporters. “They will send a plane to pick these victims up... the plane will land directly in Mae Sot.”

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson ‘Randhir Jaiswal’ confirmed that India’s embassy in Thailand was working closely with authorities to verify the identities of the nationals and complete necessary legal formalities before repatriation.

Earlier this year, India also dispatched a flight to bring home citizens rescued from other cyber scam operations along the Thai-Myanmar border following a regional crackdown.
BOB Post