New Delhi, Nov 9: Indian agencies have begun questioning over 270 nationals brought home from Thailand after they fled Myanmar’s Myawaddy region, where a major cybercrime crackdown targeted scam centres exploiting foreign workers, government sources said on Sunday.
The evacuees, including 26 women, were airlifted from Thailand’s Mae Sot town on Thursday aboard two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force. They had crossed into Thailand illegally between October 23 and 30, following raids at the notorious KK Park compound — a hub linked to transnational online scams.
Thai authorities fined the Indians for illegal entry and seized multiple mobile phones, electronic devices, and passports of different nationalities before allowing their repatriation. “Many tried to conceal their devices before boarding,” an official source said, adding that Thai immigration recovered them during thorough checks.
Investigating teams in India are now assessing whether the returnees were victims or participants in the scam operations that defrauded people globally. Around 200 more Indians remain in Mae Sot and are expected to be brought back soon.
Officials said the first batch was initially taken to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on IAF aircraft before being flown to New Delhi on an IL-76. The Indian Embassy in Bangkok and the Consulate in Chiang Mai coordinated with Thai authorities to facilitate their return.
The operation followed a massive international rescue effort involving 1,500 people from 28 countries who fled Myanmar’s cybercrime enclaves after the crackdown. Indian missions in Myanmar and Thailand are now working to trace and repatriate more citizens trapped in similar centres.
