People detained in Myanmar after release from scam compounds attempt an
escape
[April 15, 2025]
By HUIZHONG WU
BANGKOK (AP) — They walked out of the compound in Myanmar not knowing
where they would go. Though they were aiming for the river that
separated them from Thailand and freedom, they didn't know if they would
make it across.
A group of more than 270 some men and women, who were rescued from
forced labor in scam compounds two months ago but remain in detention in
Myanmar, attempted a mass escape Sunday out of fear that they may end up
being sent back to prison-like compounds where they face beatings,
torture and potentially even death.
“We will kill ourselves instead of going back to them,” said one woman,
who has been waiting to go home to Ethiopia for more than two months.
She came to Myanmar for what she thought was a job in customer service
more than a year ago, only to realize she had been trafficked. She was
forced to work in online scams targeting people across the world.
Facing pressure from China, Thailand and Myanmar’s governments launched
a massive operation in February in which they released thousands of
trafficked people from scam compounds, working with the ethnic armed
groups that rule Myanmar's border areas.
Some 7,200 — overwhelmingly from China — have returned home, according
to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but around 1,700 are still
stuck in Myanmar, many detained in locked compounds not much different
to those they were released from.
That includes this group of 270, most from Ethiopia and other African
countries, who attempted to escape after a meeting in which guards
suggested they could be returned to scam compounds. Their attempt
underscores the ongoing humanitarian situation left by one of the
biggest releases of forced laborers in modern history.
Multiple members of the group described the escape attempt to The
Associated Press by telephone. All asked not to be identified out of
fear of retribution from the armed groups holding them.
“The delay in assistance has caused severe physical and psychological
suffering,” said Jay Kritiya in a statement, the coordinator of the
Civil Society Network for Victim Assistance in Human Trafficking, an
alliance of groups, who assists people who had been trafficked into scam
compounds.
Working in the scam compounds means a minimum 12 to 16-hour days of in
front of computers where they are forced to contact targets from around
the world online and manipulate them into handing over money. Survivors
said if they don’t meet targets, they are beaten or physically punished
in other ways.
Most of the 1,700 people still in Myanmar are being held in army camps
or repurposed scam compounds controlled by the Kayin Border Guard Force,
an ethnic militia that rules this part of Myanmar.
But the most desperate were a group of 270 held by a neighboring ethnic
militia group called the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, which rules an
area south of the Border Guard Force.
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Men and women rescued from scam compounds in Myanmar sit inside a
camp belonging to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in Kyaukhat,
Myanmar on April 13, 2025, after their escape attempt to discuss
their options for getting home. (AP Photo)
Non-profit organizations based at the border have been fundraising
to help get these men and women home, but as the wait dragged on
their embassies told some of them that they were not on Myanmar’s
official list of people waiting for repatriation. That could stop
them from being sent home even if they had plane tickets.
In recent weeks, people from the group said, they saw visitors who
appeared to be from the compounds come to talk to the DKBA militia
soldiers.
After one of these meetings, the DKBA soldiers came to the detained
people and offered them a chance to go back to the compounds. They
told them: “Whoever wants to go back to work, can go back easily,”
said one man. “There will not be punishment. There will be (a)
salary."
The men and women grew scared, and on Sunday, they took things into
their own hands. They all packed up their suitcases and decided to
head for the compound's exit. “We are tired and we want to go,” said
one man. “There's no proper food. We are sleeping on the floor.”
They walked out slowly in a loose group, pulling all their personal
belongings with them. Although they made it out the compound, they
were met by soldiers with guns on the street, according to three
people who tried to leave and videos of the confrontation viewed by
the AP. Eventually, one of the soldiers said they were open to
discussion, and the group agreed to turn back.
Kritiya, the activist, said that the DKBA had agreed to send the men
and women to Myawaddy, which is under the control of the Kayin
Border Guard Force, where they could then be taken to Thailand and
then their home countries. The DKBA could not be reached for
comment.
Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday it was aware of
the escape attempt and the men and women's names were being added to
the official repatriation list. Amy Miller, Southeast Asia director
at Acts of Mercy International, said her group, alongside an airline
and partner groups, had raised enough money for the 270-plus group
to go home.
Ethiopia said it had repatriated 130 citizens from an earlier batch
and further rounds will begin in the next 10 days, Ambassador Nebiat
Getachew, spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For now, the men and women are waiting. “It's really, really hard to
trust,” said one man. “You're not 100% sure it will happen.”
___
AP writer Samuel Getachew contributed to this report from Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
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