15 Keralites rescued from Myanmar arrive in State

As many as 15 Keralites who fled to Thailand last month from Myanmar, where most of them were working at a cyber fraud centre, were sent back here in the last three days.

The Keralites reached the State in three batches on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, along with a total of 578 Indians who were flown to New Delhi from Thailand the previous day after being rescued from the KK Park cyber crime hub in Myawaddy, Myanmar.

According to a post on X by the Indian embassy in Bangkok, they were repatriated by two special flights operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) from the Thai border town of Mae Sot. According to NoRKA Roots, a central agency of the state government working for the welfare of Non-Resident Keralites, these victims of illegal recruitment were forced to cross into Thailand after fleeing Myanmar and were detained for illegal entry before being sent back to India. NoRKA Roots said in a statement that the repatriation process was facilitated following the intervention of the Indian Embassy in Bangkok and the Indian Consulate in Chiang Mai, with the support of the Thai government.

Returnees were forced to engage in cybercrime, gambling, money laundering, online romance scams and investment scams at fake call centers in the Myanmar-Thailand border region. The Myanmar army had previously arrested approximately 2,200 people, including 445 women, following the raid on the KK Park complex.