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Justice For Myanmar welcomes the news that the Thai Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is investigating and seeking warrants for three Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) leaders for human trafficking: Saw Chit Thu (whose real name is San Myint), Tin Win and Mote Thone (Mote Thun).
We urge the Thai government to expedite the process and apply for these warrants in court. The issuance of arrest warrants would be an important step towards addressing rampant criminality perpetuated by the Karen BGF leadership along the Thai border.
Application for arrest warrants would follow mounting domestic and international pressure to clamp down on transnational organised crime. Thailand has also recently sought to cutoff the supply of electricity, fuel and internet to areas on the Myanmar border where there are cyber scam compounds.
Hundreds of previously trapped scam compound workers have been released and handed to Thailand in recent days, which is welcome, but all concerned stakeholders must continue to push for the full dismantling of the industry. Prosecutions have a key role to play, for which arrest warrants are the obvious next step.
The depth of the Karen BGF’s involvement in the cyber scam industry means they must not be allowed to escape justice through short term gestures to diffuse the situation.
A 2024 Justice For Myanmar report revealed how Karen BGF leaders and their family members profit from transnational crime through the control of land, interest in real estate developments where cyber scams take place, tax collection, the provision of security, smuggling, human trafficking and the sale of utilities.
Chit Thu and his children collectively own 9 Karen BGF companies. Among them are two cyber scam compounds through the companies Myanmar Apolo International Investment Company Limited (Apollo Park) and Yulong Bay Resort Tourism Development Company Limited (Yulong Bay Park).
Tin Win jointly controls the Karen BGF companies Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Holdings Limited and Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Industry & Manufacturing Company Limited with his wife, Nan Myint Myint Win. Shwe Myint Myint Thaung Yinn Industry & Manufacturing Company Limited has been contracted to import power from the Thai state owned Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), powering scam centres and online casino operations in Myawaddy township.
Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn also traded oil from PTT, which has implicated the Thai state-owned conglomerate in the cybercrime industry.
In addition to seeking warrants against the three Karen BGF leaders, Thai authorities should expand criminal prosecutions to their family members, associates, the BGF’s Myanmar military commanders, and Thai companies and individuals who have enabled and profited from transnational crime.
The Myanmar military needs to be dismantled
The Myanmar military launched an illegal coup attempt on February 1, 2021, and is a key enabler of cyber scams and human trafficking in the region. This organised criminal activity cannot be eradicated without dismantling the military and its cartel.
The Myanmar military runs a web of criminal businesses, and breeds and harbours the Karen BGF and its criminal enterprises. The Karen BGF is under Myanmar military command. Together, they function as a transnational organised crime network that generate funds for their ongoing campaign of international crimes.
International action to address cyber scams must therefore target the Myanmar military broadly by cutting its access to funds, arms and aviation fuel, and ensure international accountability for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as civil society has demanded.
The military is a terrorist organisation under Myanmar law and as defined in international law.
Since the military’s illegal coup attempt, ASEAN has lent false legitimacy to the junta and provided intelligence and training to the Myanmar military and junta police, while it commits international and transnational crimes with impunity.
ASEAN’s legitimisation of the junta has not only emboldened this criminal cartel but undermined the international response to transnational crime by providing it with knowledge that can help it evade international law enforcement.
Action must therefore also involve excluding the junta from international organisations, including Interpol and ASEAN.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: "It is positive that the DSI is investigating three Karen BGF leaders and it is now imperative that the Thai government follow through by applying for arrest warrants. This is a necessary step towards accountability for victims of the Karen BGF’s crimes.
"Thai authorities must also address the root cause of cyber scams and human trafficking, the Myanmar military, which need funds to continue its campaign of terror against the Myanmar people.
"As long as Thailand legitimises the Myanmar military, allows it to act with impunity and provides it a financial lifeline through the purchase of natural gas, cyber scams and human trafficking will continue.
"As a neighbouring country and a member of ASEAN, Thailand has a clear responsibility and incentive to respond to the crisis in Myanmar and the scourge of cyber scams in the region by taking decisive action to cut the junta’s access to funds, arms and aviation fuel.
"Thai authorities also need to widen their action against human trafficking by seeking arrest warrants for Karen BGF family members, their junta commanders and their accomplices in Myanmar and Thailand."
More information:
Read our report into the Karen BGF’s criminal business network here
