Fuel prices are soaring in Karen State after both Thailand and the Myanmar junta blocked the supply of gasoline and diesel to online scam center hubs there.
Last week, the Thai government cut off electricity, fuel, and internet to border towns in Karen State, while the junta bars fuel tankers from Yangon and Mawlamyine heading there.
This has resulted in a threefold increase in fuel prices in some places, residents complain.
“Fuel is being rationed—three bottles for a motorbike and a gallon for a car,” one Kawkareik resident said. “A gallon costs 23,000 kyats, and we can’t buy more than that. Some filling stations have closed.”
Previously, a gallon cost between 11,000 and 13,000 kyats.
The resident said fuel shipped from other parts of the country cannot pass Gyaing Bridge on the sole route from Mawlamyine into Karen State.
The regime has not yet officially announced it is cutting off fuel to Karen State, but a traveler confirmed that junta checkpoints were seizing fuel tankers at two locations in the state on Monday.
There have also been reports of Thai arrests of fuel smugglers across the border.
Photos circulating on social media show hundreds of vehicles queuing on the Myawaddy side of the border to buy fuel in Thailand’s Mae Sot. Some drivers fill up their tanks and then siphon off the fuel to resell in Myawaddy at higher prices after Thailand banned the purchase of fuel in containers.
There are also rumors that there will soon be restrictions on vehicles from Myawaddy coming through the border, or that they will not be allowed to fill up in Thailand.
But the scam centers blaze away regardless. “The cut-off has no impact on scam gangs,” one trader from Myawaddy town said. “They can afford solar panels and work day and night. It has only affected ordinary residents, patients, and transportation.”
Many small businesses, homes, and clinics rely on diesel generators because solar panels are too expensive.
The trader said fuel prices in the town have soared to 4.5 million kyats for a 200-liter barrel or more than 20,000 kyats per liter, compared to around 3,000 kyats before the embargo.
Most filling station owners in Myawaddy initially restricted sales but later started selling in bulk to Chinese businesses, with each container selling for over 30,000 baht.
“Only gangsters can afford to buy fuel in bulk,” the trader said. “Residents have to line up to buy their quotas.”
One Myawaddy resident said: “We have grown used to power cuts, but fuel shortages are a problem now.”
Transportation costs have also increased.
Under pressure from China, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has threatened harsh action against regime-aligned local authorities involved in scam operations at the border. The Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) has already told Chinese citizens active in scam centers, casinos, and food production to leave Payathonzu by the end of February.
The Thai government insisted this week that there are no plans to restore power, internet or fuel supply any time soon.
