An ethnic militia in the south-eastern Myanmar which was sanctioned by the United States for its alleged involvement in the trafficking of human beings and online scams denied allegations.
The US Treasury Department announced on Monday sanctions against the national army of Karen (KNA) as well as its chief that the colonel saw Chit Thu and his sons, saw Htoo Eh Moo and saw Chit Chit.
They are accused of “facilitating cyber-escroqueries that harm American citizens, the trafficking in human beings and cross-border smuggling,” said a press release from the Treasury Department.
“Cyber-species operations, such as those led by the KNA, generate billions of income for criminal pivots and their partners, while depriving the victims of their harshly won economies and the feeling of security,” said the assistant secretary of the Treasury, Michael Faulkender.
“The Treasury undertakes to use all the tools available to disrupt these networks and hold responsible those who seek to take advantage of these criminal diets.”
Those who are hired to perform scams are often deceived to take jobs under false pretexts and find themselves trapped in virtual slavery.
The sanctions block targeted individuals and their companies to access money and assets under American control and prohibit American citizens from providing them with financial services.
Saw Chit Thu has already been sanctioned by the EU and the United Kingdom to take advantage of the scam compounds and the trafficking in human beings.
Lieutenant-Colonel Naing Maung Zaw, KNA spokesperson, said the group's activities were aimed at regional development and not linked to cyber-escroqueries.
He described American sanctions as a deliberate act of abasement by a powerful country compared to a lower country.
“They do it because they can,” he said.
Local militias in several border regions have de facto control in areas where their minority groups are dominant.
The KNA Control Shwe Kokko and certain regions of Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand in the state of Kayin, also known as Karen State.
Criminal unions
Shwe Kokko and Myawaddy are known paradise for criminal unions who have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to help manage online scams, including romantic dishes, false investment fields and illegal game patterns.
Critics have accused the KNA of being involved in criminal activities, at least to the extent of the protection of scam centers.
ADVERTISEMENTNaing Maung Zaw said that scam operations had been carried out not only in KNA controlled areas but also in other places in Myawaddy.
He recognized that his group had rented land to certain companies holding the property where scam centers were located and declared that the KNA would continue its mass repatriation of foreign workers working in scam centers, which it exercises in cooperation with the military government.
He said that 7,454 of the 8,575 foreign scam workers had been repatriated by Thailand following a repression by Myanmar, Thailand and China in February.
Naing Maung Zaw said more than 10,000 people remain to be identified in KNA controlled areas and that the group will continue to work on the elimination of scam activities.
ADVERTISEMENTThe state of Kayin, which is dominated by the ethnic minority of Karen, experienced an intense armed conflict since the army took the power of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The United States previously imposed sanctions on the military leaders of Myanmar, its suppliers and public banks as part of the alleged human rights violations.
