The junta-aligned Karen State Border Guard Force (BGF), notorious for its involvement in scam centers on the Thai border, has pledged to “fight criminals” amid pressure from China and Thailand.
In a statement on Wednesday, the BGF distanced itself from border scam operations, claiming that it has “only leased out land to businesses and has never been involved in profit-sharing joint ventures with them”.
By inviting foreign investment to Karen State, the group said it only permitted legal businesses like factories and housing developments as a means to create jobs and provide alternatives to farming.
The BGF said some fraudulent investors were committing crimes and it was educating the public about the dangers and taking action against perpetrators.
It said it would work with regional partners and international organizations to address human trafficking cases.
Myawaddy on the Thai border, which the BGF partially controls, is infamous as a hub for scam centers run by Chinese criminal syndicates. New developments at Shwe Kokko to the north and KK Park to the south are hotbeds of transnational crime, including online fraud and drug and human trafficking, with numerous reports of forced labor and torture.
Since the 2021 coup, the scam centers have mushroomed, with many relocating to Myawaddy after being displaced by Operation 1027 in northern Shan State last year.
BGF leader Saw Chit Thu runs Shwe Kokko, officially known as a new city project, in a joint venture with Yatai International owned by She Zhijiang, a Chinese national with Cambodian citizenship who is wanted in China.
Saw Chit Thu recently met Chinese business owners in Myawaddy and announced his crackdown on scam operations after the border town made headlines this month for the trafficking of Chinese celebrities.
On Monday the regime issued a statement as it tries to distance itself from the fraud gangs. It implied that Thailand was supplying the border scam compounds with electricity, internet and other essentials needed to run their operations, which are in areas controlled by rebel groups.
The following day, General Direk Bongkarn, head of the Thai Army’s Neighboring Countries Coordination Center, met deputy junta chief Soe Win in Naypyitaw to discuss a crackdown on border scam operations.
