Indonesian workers from Myanmar scam centres return home
Cambodia also deported 119 Thais across the two countries' shared border, the latest handover in a regional crackdown on illegal cyber scam centres.
Indonesian nationals who had worked at scam centers in eastern Myanmar sit in a waiting room upon arrival from Thailand, at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Feb 28, 2025. (Photo: AP/Tatan Syuflana)
JAKARTA:Â Eighty-four Indonesians returned home overnight on two flights from Thailand, Indonesian officials said on Saturday (Mar 1), the latest group of alleged scam workers to be repatriated from the region.
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 into committing online fraud.
Under pressure from key ally Beijing, Myanmar has cracked down on some of the compounds, freeing around 7,000 workers from more than two dozen countries.
The 69 Indonesian men and 15 women landed in Jakarta after negotiations between Indonesian officials and their Thai and Myanmar counterparts, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affair's citizen protection director Judha Nugraha told AFP on Saturday.
"They will be brought to the Social Affairs Ministry's safehouse and trauma centre. They will undergo a rehabilitation process," he said.
Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah Soemirat also confirmed their return. The group, which included three pregnant women, were in "good condition and healthy" after their evacuation from Myanmar, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
They arrived in Jakarta on two AirAsia flights - one late Friday and one early Saturday.
The ministry said it had repatriated an early group of 46 Indonesians in February, bringing the total repatriated since last month to 140.
Thousands of Indonesians have been enticed abroad in recent years to other Southeast Asian countries for better-paying jobs, only to end up in the hands of transnational scam operators.
Between 2020 and September last year, Jakarta repatriated more than 4,700 Indonesians entangled in online scam operations from countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, according to foreign ministry data.
CAMBODIA HANDS OVER THAIS
Cambodia said on Saturday that it deported 119 Thais across the two countries' shared border.
Cambodia's immigration department said in a post on its Facebook page that the Thais – 61 men and 58 women – had "snuck in to work and stayed illegally" in the kingdom.
They were among 230 foreigners detained during raids on alleged cyber scam centres in the border city of Poipet on Feb 22 and 23, it said.
The Thais were deported via the Poipet border checkpoint on Saturday, it added.
Saturday's handover comes a day after Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited Sa Kaeo, the Thai town neighbouring Poipet, to "eliminate call centre gangs", she said in a post on social media platform X.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed in a post on X that the 119 Thais had been returned from Cambodia.
Both Thai and Cambodian authorities said the workers had been paid to commit fraud online and worked voluntarily.
A frontier town known for its casinos, Poipet has become a hub for cyberscam centres and online gambling operations.
