First batch of rescued Indians used as 'digital slaves' in Myanmar return home

Continuous efforts to rescue the Indians held captive by armed Myanmar groups to serve as “cybercrime slaves” in remote border areas have finally borne fruit. The first batch of Indians rescued from Myanmar have reached India and a larger batch is expected to return home next week. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has come forward to bear the travel cost of people from Tamil Nadu, who are in significant numbers among those trapped by fraudsters posing as recruiters of IT companies.

The Tamil Nadu government has written to the Central government offering to reimburse the cost of transporting victims from Thailand to Tamil Nadu, according to highly-placed sources.

The first group of victims returning from Thailand have arrived at Mumbai and Bangalore, said the sources on condition of anonymity. Details of victims returning home are not being revealed now due to a number of reasons, including investigation of the complaints filed against agents involved in sending them to Thailand through Dubai.

While the Central government and many state governments are toiling hard to rescue the Indians stuck in Myanmar, authorities have been shocked by instances of more victims landing in Thailand and Myanmar, completely unaware of the trap they are landing into. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu government has started sensitising job-seekers to be wary of lucrative offers from agents and advertisements offering jobs in Thailand.

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“We have written to all district collectors in Tamil Nadu to create awareness among youth seeking jobs,” Jacintha Lazarus, Tamil Nadu government’s director for rehabilitation and welfare of non-resident Tamils, told The Federal. When asked about the steps being taken to prevent people from falling prey to such international job scams, she said job-seekers should be careful in verifying all details and awareness is being created for this purpose. Many people are being lured by advertisements posted through social media platforms and the effort is to make people wary of fraudsters, the official stressed.

Caution being advised

The ministry of external affairs has also issued a series of advisories, urging people to be cautious in dealing with dubious job offers.

“Instances of fake job rackets offering lucrative jobs to entice Indian youths for the posts of ‘Digital Sales and Marketing Executives’ in Thailand by dubious IT firms, involved in call-centre scam and crypto-currency fraud, have come to our notice recently by our missions in Bangkok and Myanmar. The target groups are IT skilled youth who are duped in the name of lucrative data entry jobs in Thailand through social media advertisements as well as by Dubai and India-based agents. The victims are reportedly taken across the border mostly illegally into Myanmar and held captive to work under harsh conditions,” said the MEA advisory issued on Saturday (September 24).

The Myawaddy area of Myanmar is the epicentre of the scam that has trapped hundreds of Indians. Many youngsters seeking IT jobs were taken to Thailand and made to cross the porous border into Myanmar through forests and rivers, on foot and on boat. Once in Myawaddy, they were held captive by armed groups that forced them into cyber-crime activities like cryptocurrency fraud and other digital scams. While the captives’stay in Myanmar is illegal since they do not have any visa, the lack of law and order apparatus in the region is also making the rescue operations difficult.

“Therefore, Indian nationals are advised not to get entrapped in such fake job offers being floated through social media platforms or other sources. Before travelling on tourist/visit visa for employment purposes, Indian nationals are advised to check/verify credentials of foreign employers through concerned missions abroad, and antecedents of recruiting agents as well as any company before taking up any job offer,” the advisory issued by the MEA stressed.

Only on July 5, the Indian embassy in Bangkok had issued an advisory to caution job seekers about the job racket indulging in human smuggling through the Myanmar border.

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Complex issues

Myawaddy area is part of Myanmar’s Kayin province that borders Thailand. The military government of Myanmar has only a limited say in this remote region as armed militia groups control most areas. Therefore, the Union government faces several complex issues in rescuing the trapped Indians.

Indian missions in Bangkok and Yangon have been working through various channels to free the captives and this has so far resulted in 32 of them fleeing Myanmar. However, their ordeal does not end here. Once they cross the Myanmar border into Thailand, the armed forces of Thailand take them into custody since their entry is considered illegal. The captives do not have any valid documents to travel to Myanmar and their return to Thailand is not considered legal, explained a senior MEA source.

Therefore, the Indian diplomats have to convince the authorities concerned about the human smuggling racket and those rescued are only victims. This takes a lot of time and documentation, he added.

While exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that a few hundred Indians are stuck in Myanmar. Luckily, many of those held captive had access to communication and authorities are in touch with them. Since the issue has hit the headlines, some of the captives are now complaining of threats and torture by armed gangs who are holding them in camps.

Calls for rescue

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, said the Indian missions in Thailand and Myanmar are watching the situation closely, making continuous efforts to rescue the Indian nations trapped in Myawaddy. He also urged job seekers to be more careful in considering offers for IT jobs in Thailand.

Meanwhile, parents of the trapped persons are also complaining to local authorities in many states including Tamil Nadu, seeking rescue of their children. After getting to know about the situation, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for steps to quickly rescue those trapped.

This was followed by the minister of state for external affairs, V. Muralidharan, speaking to Vinay Kumar, Indian envoy in Myanmar, calling for early rescue of the trapped Indians. Tamilisai Soundararajan, governor of Telangana who is also acting as Lt. Governor of Puducherry, also spoke to Muralidharan, requesting for steps to bring the trapped Indians back home.

The next set of victims are expected to leave Thailand next week, said MEA sources. Efforts are now on to complete the documentation needed for their return to facilitate formalities for their departure. The victims are from various states including Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka, according to information reaching New Delhi.

Long wait

The victims now staying in Thailand are traumatised and efforts are on to provide counselling to them. We are also arranging home-cooked food for them through the local Tamil Sangam, Jacintha Lazarus explained. Apart from threats and torture, documents and mobile phones of some victims have been snatched.

The Tamil Nadu government is also in constant touch with the MEA in Delhi and the Indian missions in Bangkok and Yangon. Information is shared between various authorities to identify and rescue all Indians who are trapped in the “digital slaves” camps of Myawaddy.