BANGKOK: Thailand is studying the idea of building a wall on part of its border with Cambodia to prevent illegal crossings, its government said on Monday, as a multi-national effort to dismantle a sprawling network of illicit scam centers mounts. The crackdown is widening against scam centers responsible for carrying out massive financial fraud out of Southeast Asia, especially those on Thailand’s porous borders with Myanmar and Cambodia, where hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs in recent years, according to the United Nations. At the weekend, Thai police received 119 Thai nationals from Cambodian authorities after a raid in the town of Poipet pulled out over 215 people from a scam compound.
“If it is done, how will it be done? What results and how will it solve problems? This is a study,” Thai government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said of the wall proposal, without specifying its length.
Cambodia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the wall proposal.
Thailand and Cambodia share a border of 817km. The Thai defense ministry has previously proposed a wall to block off a 55 km natural crossing between Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and Poipet, which at present is only protected by razor wire.
Telecom fraud centers have been operating for years in Southeast Asia, ensnaring people of multiple countries as far away as West Africa. They have faced heightened scrutiny after the rescue in January of Chinese actor, Wang Xing, who was lured to Thailand with the promise of a job before being abducted and taken to a scam center in Myanmar. In Myanmar’s Myawaddy, more than 7,000 foreigners – mostly from China – are waiting to cross from into Thailand, which is coordinating with embassies to try to streamline their repatriations. Hundreds of foreigners pulled out of the compounds are in limbo in squalid conditions in a militia camp and struggling to secure a route home, according to some detainees, while a top Thai lawmaker last week said the crackdown is insufficient, estimating 300,000 people have been operating in compounds in Myawaddy alone.
Thailand mulls wall at Cambodia border as scam center crackdown widens
https://arab.news/2rpq4
Thailand mulls wall at Cambodia border as scam center crackdown widens
- Multi-national effort to dismantle a sprawling network of illicit scam centers mounts
- Thailand and Cambodia share a border of 817 kilometers
Drone strikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region kill one, injure another
- The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta
- The Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence
ADDIS ABABA: One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces.
Ethiopia’s national army fought fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for two years until late 2022, in a war researchers say killed hundreds of thousands through direct violence, the collapse of health care and famine.
Fighting broke out between regional and national forces in the disputed territory of western Tigray earlier this week, according to diplomatic and government sources.
The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta, two places in Tigray about 20 kilometers apart. A humanitarian worker confirmed the strikes had happened. Both asked not to be named.
The Tigrayan official said the Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence.
A spokesperson for the ENDF did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear what the trucks were carrying.
TPLF-affiliated news outlet Dimtsi Weyane posted pictures on Facebook which it said showed the trucks damaged in the strikes. It said the trucks were transporting food and cooking items.
Pro-government activists posting on social media said the trucks were carrying weapons.
Earlier this week national carrier Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights to Tigray, where residents rushed to try to withdraw cash from banks.
The Tigray war ended with a peace pact in November 2022, but disagreements have continued over a range of issues, including contested territories in western Tigray and the delayed disarmament of Tigray forces.
