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Indonesia to bring home hundreds more scam trafficking victims from Myanmar
The United Nations estimates that as many as 120,000 people have been forced to work in Myanmar’s scam hubs against their will
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Hundreds of Indonesians rescued from Myanmar scam centres arrive home
Hundreds of Indonesians rescued from Myanmar scam centres arrive home
More than 500 Indonesians freed from online scam centres in Myanmar will be repatriated via Thailand in the coming days, a senior Indonesian official said on Tuesday.
Cyberscam operations, which have thrived in Myanmar’s lawless border areas for several years, lure foreign workers with promises of high-paying jobs but hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud.
Around 7,000 workers from at least two dozen countries have been freed in recent weeks, the majority of them Chinese, but many have been languishing in squalid temporary holding camps on the border between Myanmar and Thailand.
Four hundred Indonesian nationals will return home on Tuesday and “around 161” are to come back on Wednesday, said Judha Nugraha, the director of citizen protection at Indonesia’s foreign ministry.
They would come back on three flights from Bangkok after crossing into Thailand from Myanmar, he said.
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