Indian national among 260 victims of human trafficking received by Thailand from Myanmar

An Indian national was among the 260 human trafficking victims received by Thailand from Myanmar, while more than half of them were Ethiopians. This comes in a massive repatriation that amid a mounting crackdown on scam centres operating along a porous border.

As per a BBC report, these victims were from 20 countries, including India, China, Pakistan and Nepal.

Criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people and forced them to work in illegal online operations generating billions annually across Southeast Asia, especially along the Thai-Myanmar border, according to the United Nations.

"After screening the group and verifying their nationalities, it was found that there were 20 nationalities," the Thai army said in a statement, with 138 comprising Ethiopians, as per a Reuters report.

Although these illegal operations have been in place for years, Thai authorities renewed efforts last month after Chinese actor Wang Xing was abducted in Thailand, lured on the promise of an acting job.

He was later freed by Thai police who found him in Myanmar.

On Wednesday, a large group of trafficking victims who were sent back from Myanmar's Myawaddy area were seen crossing the Moei River to Thailand, where they were directed onto Thai military vehicles as soldiers looked on, the agency reported.

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a Myanmar rebel group based along the Thai border, said it had found around 260 people from unspecified "businesses" when its personnel looked for forced labour in areas under its control.

"We don't know how they got here," the outfit's chief of staff Major Saw San Aung told Reuters. "We are continuing the search of forced labour, and we will send them back."

Thailand earlier this month cut electricity, fuel and internet supply to parts of Myanmar where the illegal compounds operate, reflecting growing unease in Bangkok over the impact of scam centres on the vital tourism sector.

This comes at a time when the Indian government has said that they will take a strong stance against human trafficking and illegal networks amid US crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also asserted the need to fight against the “ecosystem” of human trafficking that lures people from ordinary families with big dreams and promises and brought to other countries as illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, a US plane carrying 119 illegal immigrants is likely to land at Amritsar airport on February 15, the second such batch of Indians deported by the Trump government as part of a crackdown it resolved to carry out when it was sworn in last month.

(With PTI, Reuters inputs)