About 500 foreigners including nearly 200 Thai nationals are reportedly being held by regime forces in the town of Laukkai, northeastern Shan State, where fighting between the junta and an ethnic alliance is escalating.
The captives include 189 Thais and other nationals of countries such as Nepal, Ethiopia, and Laos.
The foreigners were recently rescued from online scam businesses operating in the area. However, the junta-controlled anti-human trafficking unit has sent them to military camps rather than handing them over to authorities from their respective countries, humanitarian workers say.
“The army is using them as forced labor to build bunkers, dig trenches, and carry timber. They are practically human shields,” a person who has joined efforts to rescue the victims told the Irrawaddy.
Humanitarian workers say the foreigners are being held in front-line outposts where their lives are at risk from fighting that could erupt at any time, stressing they need to be handed over to their home countries or China.
“They’re being held in areas of intense fighting, in the army’s front-line outposts. The Brotherhood Alliance could launch attacks against Laukkai [any time]. These foreign nationals would be caught in the crossfire. And if they do get killed during rebel attacks, the junta will presumably attempt to frame the Brotherhood Alliance for targeting foreign civilians,” said the rescue worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They are keeping foreign nationals on the front lines to use them as human shields.”
The Bangkok Post reports that 120 trafficked Thai nationals were rescued from forced labor at online scam businesses in Laukkai on Oct. 21.
The Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, has captured dozens of junta bases in and around the towns of Mong Ko and Chin Shwe Haw, northeastern Shan State, since launching its “Operation 1027” offensive a week ago.
Fears are now mounting that the fighting will spread to Laukkai, a border town sandwiched between Mong Ko and Chin Shwe Haw and controlled by the junta-allied Kokang Border Guard Force and militia.
Laukkai is notorious as a hub for online gambling and scam businesses. Hundreds of suspected human traffickers have been arrested and handed over to China in recent weeks after Beijing pressured the junta to crack down on Laukkai.
Humanitarian workers say trafficked victims had suffered torture including electric shocks and sexual assault while being held captive.
