Renowned Digital Scam Center Linked with China-based Criminal Syndicate Stormed

The Myanmar junta claims it has seized among the most notorious scam compounds on the frontier with Thai territory, as it regains crucial land surrendered in the continuing civil war.

KK Park, positioned south of the border town of Myawaddy, has been synonymous with internet scams, cash cleaning and human trafficking for the previous five-year period.

Numerous individuals were lured to the complex with assurances of lucrative positions, and then coerced to run complex schemes, stealing countless millions of money from affected individuals all over the globe.

The armed forces, historically compromised by its links to the scam industry, now says it has occupied the facility as it expands authority around Myawaddy, the main economic connection to Thailand.

In the previous month, the junta has pushed back opposition fighters in several parts of Myanmar, seeking to expand the number of places where it can organize a planned poll, commencing in December.

It still hasn't mastered extensive areas of the nation, which has been torn apart by hostilities since a military coup in February 2021.

The poll has been disregarded as a fraud by opposition forces who have vowed to prevent it in territories they occupy.

KK Park began with a lease agreement in early 2020 to establish an industrial park between the KNU (KNU), the ethnic insurgent faction which governs much of this territory, and a little-known Hong Kong stock market company, Huanya International.

Analysts believe there are links between Huanya and a prominent Asian underworld figure Wan Kuok Koi, often referred to as Broken Tooth, who has since invested in additional scam hubs on the boundary.

The compound developed swiftly, and is easily observable from the Thailand side of the border.

Those who were able to escape from it describe a violent regime imposed on the thousands, numerous from African states, who were held there, compelled to labor excessive periods, with torture and assaults administered on those who failed to meet objectives.

A announcement by the junta's information ministry stated its personnel had "secured" KK Park, releasing more than 2,000 workers there and confiscating 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink internet equipment – extensively utilized by fraud facilities on the Thai-Myanmar boundary for digital operations.

The statement accused what it termed the "militant" KNU and volunteer people's defence forces, which have been opposing the military since the overthrow, for unlawfully holding the territory.

The junta's declaration to have dismantled this infamous deception centre is almost certainly aimed at its primary patron, China.

Beijing has been pressing the regime and the Thai government to take additional measures to stop the illegal activities run by Asian syndicates on their shared frontier.

Earlier this year thousands of Chinese laborers were taken out of scam complexes and flown on chartered planes back to China, after Thailand cut access to power and fuel supplies.

But KK Park is merely one of no fewer than 30 analogous facilities positioned on the frontier.

A large portion of these are under the control of Karen paramilitary forces aligned to the military, and the majority are presently operating, with tens of thousands running schemes inside them.

In fact, the support of these armed units has been crucial in helping the armed forces push back the KNU and further resistance groups from territory they seized over the previous 24 months.

The junta now governs almost all of the route joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a target the regime established before it organizes the initial phase of the election in December.

It has seized Lay Kay Kaw, a new town created for the KNU with Japan-based financial support in 2015, a time when there had been hopes for lasting stability in the territory following a nationwide ceasefire.

That constitutes a more substantial blow to the KNU than the takeover of KK Park, from which it received a certain amount of income, but where most of the financial gains ended up with military-aligned paramilitary forces.

A knowledgeable insider has suggested that deception work is ongoing in KK Park, and that it is probable the armed forces seized just a portion of the large-scale facility.

The contact also believes Beijing is providing the Myanmar military rosters of Asian people it wants taken from the deception compounds, and transported back to be prosecuted in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.