The European Union has announced another round of sanctions on Myanmar, targeting a junta-aligned militia responsible for online scam operations that have victimized “both the Myanmar population and citizens from other countries in the region.”
In a statement late yesterday, the European Council announced “additional restrictive measures” against three individuals and one entity associated with the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), which controls a swath of territory along the Thai border in Karen State.
According to the statement, the listings reflect “the EU’s determination to address the growing threat of scam operations in Myanmar, which entail serious human rights violations and are increasingly threatening the peace, security, and stability in the country and the region.”
The sanctions target Chit Linn Myaing Group (CLM) and its founder and former chairman Col. Saw Chit Thu. The Council said that CLM “is involved with and profits financially from activities in scam compounds in the area of Myawaddy township on the Thai-Myanmar border, including the city of Shwe Kokko.” Over the past decade, Shwe Kokko has evolved into “a hub for transnational crime, including online fraud, drug and human trafficking, and is experiencing massive human rights violations, including forced labor and torture,” the EU statement added.
The European Council also listed two more individuals for their involvement in the developments at Shwe Kokko. The first was Lt. Col. Mote Thun, a founding member and the deputy secretary general of the Karen BGF, who the EU said “is particularly powerful in the South of Myawaddy, where numerous scam centers are located.” The second was Maj. Tin Win, a “direct subordinate” of Saw Chit Thu, who “has supported and benefited from scam compounds near Myawaddy,” a major city on the Thai border.
Under these sanctions, CLM and the listed individuals will be subject to asset freezes and EU travel bans. The EU has also banned the “provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to them or for their benefit.”
CLM is controlled by the Karen BGF, formerly a faction of the Karen National Union that broke away from the group in the mid-1990s under Saw Chit Thu’s leadership. The group then allied itself with the military junta of the time and, after enlisting as a Border Guard Force, turned to murky and criminal commercial activities, including online scams, in order to sustain itself.
The largest scamming operations are concentrated around Shwe Kokko, where CLM has developed the $15 billion New Yatai City project, in partnership with the Hong Kong-registered Yatai International Holding Group. New Yatai initially focused on casinos and online gambling, but like other Chinese criminal operations based in loosely regulated parts of mainland Southeast Asia, has since diversified into digital scams that have lured hundreds of workers, many of them from China, with promises of high-paying jobs – only to effectively enslave them upon arrival.
Earlier this year, the BGF announced that it was breaking from the military and renamed itself the Karen National Army, but the group continues to play a mercenary role in the borderlands. In particular, it is believed to have helped stave off the fall to resistance forces of Myawaddy in April. The following month, it warned foreigners involved in online scam operations in Myawaddy township to leave by October or face punitive action. It remains unclear whether this has had any effect on the scam factories around Myawaddy, although precedent from other parts of the region suggests that this crackdown is intended for external consumption and will make little difference on the ground.
In December of last year, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada imposed coordinated sanctions against 14 individuals and entities for their involvement in Southeast Asia’s online scamming industry, including Saw Chit Thu and two other individuals connected to Shwe Kokko.
With these latest listings, the EU now has sanctions on 106 people and 22 entities in Myanmar, which have been announced in stages since the military coup of February 2021.