Infamous Online Scam Hub Connected with China-based Mafia Raided

The Myanmar armed forces claims it has seized among the most well-known deception facilities on the frontier with Thailand, as it reclaims key land previously lost in the current internal conflict.

KK Park, located south of the boundary community of Myawaddy, has been associated with online fraud, money laundering and human trafficking for the past five years.

Countless people were attracted to the complex with promises of lucrative employment, and then forced to run sophisticated schemes, extracting substantial sums of dollars from affected individuals across the globe.

The military, previously tainted by its connections to the scam business, now claims it has occupied the complex as it expands dominance around Myawaddy, the main economic link to Thailand.

In the past few weeks, the junta has pushed back insurgents in various areas of Myanmar, seeking to increase the number of places where it can organize a planned election, commencing in December.

It still doesn't control large swathes of the state, which has been torn apart by conflict since a military coup in February 2021.

The election has been disregarded as a sham by resistance groups who have vowed to obstruct it in territories they occupy.

KK Park commenced with a rental contract in the beginning of 2020 to build an commercial zone between the ethnic organization (KNU), the armed ethnic group which controls much of this area, and a obscure Hong Kong stock market company, Huanya International.

Investigators believe there are connections between Huanya and a notable China-based criminal figure Wan Kuok Koi, better known as Broken Tooth, who has later funded other deception centers on the border.

The complex expanded swiftly, and is easily noticeable from the Thai territory of the frontier.

Those who were able to escape from it detail a violent environment enforced on the thousands, several from continental African states, who were confined there, forced to operate extended shifts, with torture and physical violence applied on those who did not manage to reach objectives.

A announcement by the military's information ministry stated its troops had "cleared" KK Park, releasing in excess of 2,000 laborers there and seizing 30 of Elon Musk's Starlink internet equipment – extensively employed by scam facilities on the Thai-Myanmar boundary for digital functions.

The statement faulted what it called the "militant" KNU and local people's defence forces, which have been opposing the regime since the takeover, for illegally occupying the territory.

The military's assertion to have shut down this well-known fraud facility is very likely targeted toward its main backer, China.

Beijing has been pressing the military and the Thai authorities to take additional measures to stop the criminal businesses managed by China-based organizations on their shared frontier.

Earlier this year many of China-based laborers were removed of fraud complexes and sent on chartered planes back to China, after Thailand restricted access to power and fuel supplies.

But KK Park is just a single of a minimum of 30 similar complexes positioned on the border.

The majority of these are under the control of local paramilitary forces associated to the military, and most are currently functioning, with countless people managing scams inside them.

In reality, the backing of these paramilitary forces has been crucial in assisting the military repel the KNU and other opposition organizations from land they took control of over the recent two-year period.

The military now governs the vast majority of the route joining Myawaddy to the other parts of Myanmar, a goal the military set itself before it holds the initial phase of the poll in December.

It has taken Lay Kay Kaw, a new town created for the KNU with Asian financial support in 2015, a period when there had been aspirations for permanent stability in the territory following a nationwide ceasefire.

That constitutes a more significant setback to the KNU than the seizure of KK Park, from which it obtained some funds, but where the bulk of the financial advantages were directed to pro-junta paramilitary forces.

A informed insider has suggested that fraud activities is continuing in KK Park, and that it is probable the junta took control of only part of the sprawling complex.

The insider also believes Beijing is supplying the Burmese military rosters of Asian individuals it wants removed from the scam facilities, and transported back to face trial in China, which may explain why KK Park was targeted.