Notorious Online Scam Complex Connected with Asian Underworld Targeted

The Burmese military states it has taken control of one of the most well-known scam compounds on the frontier with Thai territory, as it regains crucial territory previously lost in the ongoing domestic strife.

KK Park, located south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with online fraud, money laundering and people smuggling for the recent half-decade.

Countless people were lured to the compound with guarantees of lucrative employment, and then forced to operate complex scams, taking substantial sums of currency from affected individuals all over the planet.

The armed forces, long stained by its connections to the fraud operations, now declares it has seized the facility as it extends authority around Myawaddy, the key trade route to Thailand.

In the past few weeks, the junta has repelled opposition fighters in several areas of Myanmar, aiming to maximise the quantity of places where it can organize a planned vote, beginning in December.

It currently lacks authority over large swathes of the country, which has been fragmented by fighting since a government overthrow in February 2021.

The vote has been disregarded as a sham by anti-junta elements who have vowed to block it in areas they control.

KK Park commenced with a property arrangement in the beginning of 2020 to construct an industrial park between the Karen National Union (KNU), the rebel organization which dominates much of this territory, and a little-known HK listed corporation, Huanya International.

Researchers think there are connections between Huanya and a prominent Chinese criminal figure Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has since invested in further fraud hubs on the frontier.

The facility expanded quickly, and is readily visible from the Thailand territory of the frontier.

Those who managed to escape from it recount a violent environment enforced on the thousands, several from continental African countries, who were held there, compelled to operate extended shifts, with abuse and beatings administered on those who were unable to meet quotas.

A statement by the military's communications department stated its personnel had "cleared" KK Park, freeing over 2,000 employees there and taking possession of 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite terminals – extensively utilized by deception hubs on the Thai-Myanmar border for internet functions.

The announcement blamed what it described as the "terrorist" ethnic organization and civilian people's defence forces, which have been fighting the regime since the overthrow, for unlawfully occupying the region.

The regime's assertion to have dismantled this notorious fraud facility is almost certainly directed at its primary supporter, China.

Beijing has been urging the junta and the Thailand government to take additional measures to end the criminal businesses run by Chinese networks on their common boundary.

Previously in the year many of China-based employees were extracted of deception compounds and transported on chartered planes back to China, after Thai authorities cut supply to energy and fuel supplies.

But KK Park is just a single of no fewer than 30 similar facilities located on the border.

The majority of these are under the control of Karen armed units allied to the junta, and many are currently active, with tens of thousands running schemes inside them.

In reality, the support of these armed units has been critical in enabling the armed forces drive back the KNU and further resistance groups from territory they took control of over the past two years.

The armed forces now controls almost all of the highway connecting Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a target the regime set itself before it conducts the initial phase of the vote in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a modern community established for the KNU with Japan-based financial support in 2015, a time when there had been aspirations for enduring tranquility in the territory following a national peace agreement.

That represents a more substantial blow to the KNU than the takeover of KK Park, from which it obtained limited funds, but where most of the financial gains went to regime-supporting paramilitary forces.

A knowledgeable contact has revealed that scam operations is persisting in KK Park, and that it is probable the junta occupied merely a section of the extensive facility.

The source also suspects Beijing is giving the Burmese armed forces lists of Asian people it wants taken from the fraud complexes, and returned back to face trial in China, which may account for why KK Park was attacked.