27-2-2025 (YANGON) Myanmar’s Border Guard Force (BGF) has liberated 572 Vietnamese nationals amongst more than 7,000 individuals from a sprawling criminal enterprise near the Thai frontier, marking one of the region’s largest rescue missions to date.
The operation, centred on the notorious KK Park compound, unveiled the scale of transnational criminal syndicates operating in Myanmar’s eastern borderlands. The BGF, which maintains allegiance to Myanmar’s military administration, successfully extracted 7,141 foreign nationals from fraudulent operations, including 4,860 Chinese citizens, 526 Indians, and 430 Ethiopians, alongside nationals from nearly thirty other countries.
Thai authorities have emerged as crucial partners in this cross-border initiative, with Task Force Rajamanu of the Naresuan Command taking charge of frontier security measures. A fortnight prior, Thai officials had implemented strategic pressure by severing essential utilities—electricity, fuel, and internet services—to five locations across three Myanmar border settlements.
Whilst some perpetrators managed to evade capture during the raid on 26 February, the BGF has established a comprehensive registry of rescued individuals from both KK Park and Shwe Kokko areas. These regions, traditionally under BGF jurisdiction, had become epicentres for sophisticated scam operations.
Diplomatic channels have been activated, with Myanmar authorities reaching out to relevant embassies to orchestrate the safe return of victims through Thai territory. The unprecedented scale of this rescue operation underscores the persistent challenge of human trafficking networks in Southeast Asia’s border regions.
