Myanmar not included in Thailand’s international scam-fighting cooperation

Thailand launched a platform for information sharing on July 3 to combat transnational call center scam networks and human trafficking, with 10 countries participating as founding members. However, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, which are frequently associated with regional scam compounds, were not among the initial founding member countries, it is known. The platform was officially named the Scam and Human Trafficking Information Exchange and Linked Database, abbreviated as SHIELD. The platform was introduced at the closing ceremony of an international conference on combating cyber-scams and forced criminal activities held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. The conference was jointly organized by the Royal Thai Police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. According to the Bangkok Post and Xinhua news agencies, Australia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, South Korea, the United States, and Vietnam were among the initial participating countries. In addition, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also participated, it was reported. When asked why Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, despite being frequently associated with scam compound operations, were not included, Police General Sarachai Pitaknarapul, Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police and Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Center, stated that future participation would depend on "mutual trust and agreement," the Bangkok Post reported. Among the three countries not yet included as members, Myanmar includes border areas in Karen State, where scam compounds such as KK Park and Shwe Kokko have been operating for many years. The report stated that these compounds operated under the protection of the KNA (Karen National Army), formerly known as the Border Guard Force (BGF). The KNA (Karen National Army) is a militia group associated with the Myanmar military junta and is a separate organization from the Karen National Union (KNU), a Karen ethnic political and armed organization that has been fighting the military for decades. Following the military coup in 2021, clashes between the KNU and the military have intensified. Investigations have indicated that the origins of these compounds are linked to Chinese organized crime networks, according to a report by the Human Development Forum Foundation. Vietnamese state media reported at the time that Myanmar and Laos had participated in an early consultative meeting on the SHIELD system in January of this year. At that time, the Royal Thai Police had briefed many countries on the development of the platform. However, it is known that when SHIELD was officially launched in July, Myanmar and Laos were not included in the list of 10 founding member countries. References: Bangkok Post, Xinhua