Renowned Cyber Scam Center Associated with Asian Mafia Stormed

The Myanmar junta announces it has seized among the most notorious fraud complexes on the boundary with Thailand, as it regains crucial land previously lost in the current domestic strife.

KK Park, positioned south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been linked with digital deception, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the past five years.

Thousands were lured to the facility with guarantees of high-income jobs, and then compelled to manage complex schemes, stealing countless millions of dollars from victims throughout the world.

The junta, long tainted by its associations to the deception business, now declares it has occupied the facility as it expands control around Myawaddy, the main economic route to Thailand.

In recent weeks, the junta has driven back insurgents in several regions of Myanmar, aiming to increase the number of territories where it can hold a scheduled election, commencing in December.

It still doesn't control significant territories of the country, which has been torn apart by fighting since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The vote has been dismissed as a fake by anti-junta elements who have pledged to block it in areas they hold.

KK Park commenced with a property arrangement in the first part of 2020 to construct an business complex between the KNU (KNU), the armed ethnic organization which dominates much of this region, and a little-known HK listed company, Huanya International.

Investigators believe there are links between Huanya and a influential Asian underworld personality Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has subsequently backed further scam centers on the boundary.

The complex developed quickly, and is readily visible from the Thailand side of the boundary.

Those who succeeded to escape from it describe a harsh environment established on the countless people, many from continental African states, who were held there, made to labor long hours, with abuse and physical violence administered on those who failed to meet quotas.

A statement by the junta's communications department stated its troops had "secured" KK Park, freeing over 2,000 workers there and taking possession of 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite terminals – extensively employed by scam centers on the Thai-Myanmar boundary for digital operations.

The statement faulted what it termed the "terrorist" ethnic organization and volunteer people's defence forces, which have been combating the regime since the overthrow, for illegally holding the territory.

The junta's declaration to have shut down this notorious scam facility is probably directed at its main backer, China.

Beijing has been pressuring the military and the Thailand authorities to increase efforts to end the illegal businesses managed by Chinese syndicates on their border.

Previously in the year many of Asian employees were removed of scam facilities and flown on chartered planes back to China, after Thailand restricted access to power and energy provisions.

But KK Park is only one of at least 30 similar compounds situated on the border.

A large portion of these are under the guardianship of Karen militia groups aligned to the junta, and the majority are still functioning, with countless people managing scams inside them.

In actuality, the support of these militia groups has been crucial in enabling the armed forces drive back the KNU and other opposition groups from land they took control of over the past two years.

The junta now governs the vast majority of the route linking Myawaddy to the rest of Myanmar, a objective the regime determined before it organizes the first stage of the vote in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a recent settlement founded for the KNU with Japanese investment in 2015, a era when there had been hopes for permanent peace in Karen State following a nationwide peace agreement.

That forms a more substantial setback to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it received some income, but where the bulk of the monetary benefits were directed to military-aligned paramilitary forces.

A knowledgeable contact has suggested that scam activities is continuing in KK Park, and that it is possible the junta took control of only part of the sprawling facility.

The contact also thinks Beijing is providing the Myanmar armed forces inventories of Chinese persons it seeks taken from the deception compounds, and transported back to be prosecuted in China, which may account for why KK Park was targeted.