Members of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army hold the group's flag as they pose for a photograph on a captured army armored vehicle in Myanmar, Saturday Oct. 28, 2023. - AP
BANGKOK/YANGON: More than 160 Thai nationals, including victims of human trafficking, have been moved to shelter by Myanmar junta troops amid a surge in fighting near the Chinese border but several dozen more remain trapped in a building, Thailand’s deputy police chief said on Monday.
"The 162 are safe and with the Myanmar army in Laukkai city,” Surachate Hakparn told Reuters by phone from Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, where he had travelled to assist rescue efforts. "For the other 60 Thais we are coordinating with the Myanmar army and they are going to help.”
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Thursday Thais and other nationalities were among those trapped in northern Myanmar’s Shan State when an alliance of armed groups battling for self-determination attacked junta positions in late October.
In a joint statement, the "three brotherhood alliance" said the assault was intended to overthrow "dictatorial rule" in Myanmar and target criminal gangs running telecoms scams they said were protected by the junta.
Surachate told reporters earlier on Monday that some of the Thais trapped in Myanmar were "victims of human trafficking” and some of them may be related to telecoms fraud gangs. He said there were also about 600 Chinese nationals.
Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, has become a hub for telecoms and other online fraud, according to the United Nations, with hundreds of thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centres and other illegal online operations.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta did not respond to request for comment.
The effort to rescue Thais from chaos in neighbouring Myanmar comes after at least 30 Thais, most of them farm workers, were killed during the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas militants in southern Israel. Sixteen Thais were wounded and 17 are among hostages taken by the Palestinian militants.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Writing by Poppy McPherson, Editing by Nick Macfie) - Reuters
