Nearly 700 foreigners, including Pakistanis, fled Myanmar and crossed into Thailand, the Thai military said on Thursday, following a military operation against KK Park, a notorious cybercrime complex.
Thailand has detained 677 people, including 618 men and 59 women, after they crossed the border into Tak province, it said in a statement.
The Myanmar military has taken control of KK Park and is inspecting the area, expelling large numbers of people to Thailand, the statement said.
People are now undergoing legal procedures and checks, and Thai authorities have also made additional detention facilities available in case existing spaces prove insufficient, the military said.
“All actions are in line with legal and humanitarian principles,” he said, adding that he was working closely with local security agencies to maintain order along the Thai-Myanmar border.
The group is primarily made up of individuals from India and China, with smaller numbers from Vietnam, Pakistan, Indonesia and several other countries, the military said.
Myanmar's KK Park is a notorious enclave known to international law enforcement and diplomats for its involvement in cyber scams.
The sprawling KK Park complex and others nearby are mainly run by Chinese criminal gangs and guarded by local militia groups aligned with the Myanmar military.
Border areas between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have become hubs for online fraud since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the United Nations says billions of dollars have been made from trafficking hundreds of thousands of people forced to work at fraudulent complexes.
