Indonesia to repatriate 561 Myanmar scam centre workers

JAKARTA - Indonesia on March 18 began repatriating more than 500 of its nationals freed from online scam centres in Myanmar, officials said, bringing them home from an ordeal where they suffered violence and threats.

Cyberscam operations, which have thrived in Myanmar’s lawless border areas for several years, lure foreign workers with promises of high-paying jobs but hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud.

Around 7,000 workers from at least two dozen countries have been freed in recent weeks, the majority of them Chinese, but many have been languishing in squalid temporary holding camps on the border between Myanmar and Thailand.

Four hundred Indonesian nationals were returning from Thailand on March 18 and at least 154 would follow on March 19, according to Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Budi Gunawan.

“The Indonesian government cooperated with the Thai government and the Chinese government for rescuing and repatriating 554 Indonesians,” he told a press conference at the international airport in capital Jakarta.

The group included 449 men and 105 women who became “victims of large-scale online scamming” in the town of Myawaddy near the Thai border, said Mr Budi.

“The victims… experienced various pressures, physical violence, such as beatings and electrocution, and lastly were threatened with their organs being removed,” he said.

Mr Judha Nugraha, the director of citizen protection at Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, earlier told AFP that “around 161” nationals would return on March 19.

The Indonesians were coming back on three flights from Bangkok after crossing into Thailand from Myanmar, officials said.

The first flight carrying 200 freed Indonesians landed on the morning of March 18.

Mr Judha said the discrepancy in numbers was due to the authorities “still processing” the second group, adding final numbers would be released on March 19 after their