On October 24, Thai officials said that more than 1,000 people, mostly Chinese citizens, fled to Thailand this week after the Myanmar military launched a search for one of the country's largest fraud centers.
According to Thailand's Tak Provincial Office, a total of 1,049 people crossed the border from Myanmar to Mae Sot district from October 22 to the morning of October 24 (local time), an increase of 677 people compared to statistics on the morning of October 23 (local time).
Among them are citizens from India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand and many other countries, the agency said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Thai Migration Department said that most of the border crossing victims were Chinese men.
On October 23, Thai media also broadcast a video showing some people from Myanmar using styrofoam boxes to cross the river to Thailand.
Tak Province authorities also released images of a group of men sitting on the ground next to their luggage, opposite a line of Thai security officers.
Online fraud centers have sprung up along the Myanmar border, where the government has loosely controlled amid a prolonged civil war.
Many victims were trafficked to work in strictly guarded complexes, but there were also volunteers participating, hoping to earn more money in the billion-dollar illegal industry.
Myanmar military said on October 23 that it had raided the KK Park fraudulent center, an area just across the Thai border, and seized Starlink satellite Internet equipment manufactured by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
A SpaceX representative later said that they had disabled more than 2,500 Starlink devices used in fraud areas in Myanmar.
Deputy Governor of Tak province (Thailand), Mr. Sawanit Suriyakul Na Ayutthaya, said that the authorities believe that most of the cross-borderers are from KK Park but are still verifying.
According to Mr. Ayutthaya, these people will be screened to determine whether they are victims of human trafficking or not, otherwise they could be prosecuted for illegal border crossings.
