Myanmar border regions are like wild wild west of the yesteryears And the wild part has exploded exponentially in these semi autonomous locations, governed by war loads, crime loads and drug lords. The contagion has shifted from the previously confined boundaries of the golden triangle to even mushrooming to penetrate into the centre of the business hub of Yangon.
Now mesmerising casinos, illegal gambling dens, scam operations, human trafficking, drug paddling, kidnapping, gun violence can be seen from Pan Shang in Wa State, Nam Kan in northern Shan, Myawaddy right opposite of Mae Sot, Three Pagoda pass in the South, to Hlaing Thar Yar FMI estate and famous towers of Golden City and Myanmar Plaza. Obviously the latter three are in Yangon municipality hence the activities there are more of supervisory and management in nature, rather than openly engaging in these underworld activities.
And myanmar leadership has been aware of these for decades, yet taking effective action is easier said than done. With peace between the central government and the ethnic regions on thin ice, getting rid of obvious criminal activities took a back seat, giving way to preserving the stability, while hoping for the dawn of a development era.
Yet, the results have not be encouraging at best. Violence spread more, peace accords were as fragile as a rose bud, regions under the control of the central government got smaller and smaller. The government is fighting back. Recent speeches by the Senior General signalled a shift towards a more decisive and heavy handed approach towards dissidents and unruly EAOs.(Ethic Armed Organisations).
Sudden change of attitudes
The fact is that the government has been aware of these for at least a couple of decades. Our big brother China has also been pushing the government to take decisive action to tackle cross border criminal activities in the border regions for many years. Yet, the resolute measures did not happened until like a month ago.
Between the second and third weeks of February, the government papers pages are full of stories of crackdown on scam centres and returns of illegal migrants, settled here to do nothing but crime. The front pages were also occupied with news of similar nature.
Actions followed
February 5: Acting on a tip-off, security forces raided the places where the online gambling and scams are concentrated in Mong Yai Township, Shan State (North), and an armed engagement occurred with security personnel of ‘Zia Pian’ in the southeast of Mong Yai. During the clash, security forces discovered two dead bodies, arrested five ‘Zia Pian’ security personnel, seized six weapons, detained eight Chinese nationals and seven Myanmar nationals.
Security forces also seized seven buildings and 181 mobile phones, 25 laptops, 21 desktops, 28 keyboards, two Wi-Fi devices, two Starlink devices, one gun and five bullets and other gambling materials near Naung Han village.
February 6: Security forces arrested nine Chinese nationals — eight males and one female, 18 Vietnamese females and 27 Myanmar nationals — two males and 25 females — near Naung Han village in Mong Ha area together with 72 computers, five Starlink devices, 79 mobile phones, five fish gambling machines and two vehicles.
February 7: 12 Chinese males were arrested with one Alphard vehicle and one generator near the vicinity of Naung Han village.
Prosecution will be made against the offenders, and foreigners were transferred to their respective countries board on bilateral relations between the countries and on humanitarian grounds.
Minister of Home Affairs also met with Chinese Ambassador on February 14, probably to explain the ‘urgent’ enforcement measures being undertaken to rid the country of gang lords and escapees from China.
The talks focused on the expulsion of foreigners in Myawaddy of Kayin State as per the procedures, arrests of online scammers and gamblers in the Mong Ha region of Mong Yai Township in Shan State (North), transfer of Chinese fugitives, holding of China-Myanmar-Thailand senior officials meeting to combat online scams and gambling in Myawaddy, ongoing cooperation between the two ministries and future cooperation.
2,500 captured and extradited so far
Shortly after the get-together, Myanmar authorities transported 300 Chinese nationals, who illegally entered the country via border routes to run online gambling and telecom fraud in Myawaddy, Shwe Kok Ko and KK Park areas, to China on February 23.
The detainees admitted on media interviews that they illegally entered Myanmar passing through some neighbouring countries, and were forced to work in telecom frauds and online gambling in Myawaddy and KK Park areas.
On February 24, another batch of 22 foreigners were arrested and deported again from Myawaddy areas and handed them back to the welcoming hands of China’s Ministry of State Security.
All in all, within the month of February, nearly 2,500 were arrested and extradited to their respective countries. And the world wonders why it is taking so long to do such a quick job.
Why Such an Abrupt Change of Heart?
The change in attitudes and prompt actions came after various countries, including China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, publicly or privately asked the government to act. After initially blaming Kayin EAOs on what’s been happening and Thailand on supply of infrastructure, the latter cut of the electricity, fuel and internet infrastructure within one month, depriving the local residents of essential services except for a few houses, powered by solar energy. The Thais acted swiftly. Within another week or so, the BGF Chief Saw Chit Thu, held a press conference, right after the Thai government designated him as a fugitive with an immediate warrant of arrest. He amazingly claimed to be totally oblivious of such scam and illegal activities being carried out right under his more by his tenants in Shwe Kok Ko compound and audaciously blamed one of the ministers in the current cabinet for introducing him to the scam gang. You can see in Saw Chit Thu actions too on the expert application of the blame game and acting blur in the midst of all arrows being pointed at him.
With that the government strategy of pointing fingers at others fall short of credibility and they being put into a corner, in urgent need to be decisive initiatives, all stars got aligned in the mid of February in salient to push back the invading forces of scam gangs.
As one of the DAs (Defence Attachés) in Myanmar said, Myanmar people are like rockets; Only when their ass is on fire, they will act really fast.
