The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on junta ally Karen National Army (KNA), its leader Colonel Saw Chit Thu and his two sons for cyber scams and human trafficking.
The department has designated the militia as a transnational criminal organization for threatening Myanmar’s security.
It said the KNA – called the Karen Border Guard Force until March 2021 – used its junta ties to build a criminal empire linked to cyber scam syndicates along the Thai border in Myawaddy Township, Karen State.
The militia cooperated with Myanmar’s military until September last year, leasing land to criminal groups and supporting human trafficking, smuggling and scam operations, the Treasury said in its statement.
The armed group provided security at scam compounds where survivors reported guards wearing KNA insignia, it added.
Deputy secretary Michael Faulkender said: “Cyber scam operations, such as those run by the KNA, generate billions in revenue for criminal kingpins and their associates, while depriving victims of their hard-earned savings and sense of security.”
Saw Chit Thu was a key player in Myanmar’s scam economy, facilitating transnational crimes in the KNA-controlled areas along the Thai border, the US agency said.
He was sanctioned by the UK in 2023 and the European Union last year over the scams and his junta ties.
Saw Chit Thu appointed his sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, as KNA officers, and they both played key roles in the group’s criminal operations, the US agency claimed.
The US Treasury said Saw Htoo Eh Moo was involved in KNA-linked business ventures, including scams, while Saw Chit Chit led KNA forces alongside regime troops in fighting anti-regime groups.
In response, KNA spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Naing Maung Zaw told The Irrawaddy: “These sanctions aren’t surprising. Many countries tend to impose restrictions whenever they are displeased. We see this as targeted pressure or personal intimidation.”
He denied that the KNA held shares in any scam operations nor demanded any percentage of their profits and the group only leased land to the companies to support border development.
On the US claims of trafficking and smuggling, Naing Maung Zaw said: “These are baseless accusations. Our organization isn’t in such a desperate state that we would resort to human trafficking. It is shameful for a superpower to make groundless accusations against weaker groups.”
In May last year, the Justice for Myanmar rights group reported on the KNA’s transnational network of illegal and abusive businesses, including cyber scam parks, with links to Malaysia, Thailand and other Asian countries.
In January, the KNA came under increased scrutiny from Beijing with the trafficking of Chinese actor Wang Xing to Myawaddy.
Under Chinese pressure, the Thai police rescued the actor from a scam operation in KNA territory and cut off electricity, internet services and fuel supplies to five areas in Myanmar, including territory controlled by Saw Chit Thu and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army in Myawaddy.
The KNA was compelled to crack down on scam centers in its territory and repatriate thousands of foreigners via Thailand.
The KNA told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that 8,570 foreigners from the scam operations had been sent home.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation sought to issue an arrest warrant for three KNA leaders – Saw Chit Thu, Lieutenant Colonel Mote Thone and Major Tine Win – for human trafficking.
Yamin contributed this story.
