By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Shoon Naing
Bangkok (Reuters) – Thailand has cut electricity, internet and fuel supplies to five border areas in Myanmar, a senior Thai minister said on Wednesday, as the Southeast Asian nation steps up efforts to choke scam centres that have become a growing security concern.
“They may face challenges of lower power supply, but we are at the point now where no one can blame Thailand for being part of or play a part in supporting illegal acts,” Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters.
“They may turn to other sources of power supply or generate their own electricity.”
Scam compounds in Southeast Asia, including those along the Thai-Myanmar border, are suspected to have entrapped hundreds of thousands of people in illegal online operations, generating billions annually, according to a 2023 U.N. report.
Myanmar’s state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper in a rare article on scam centres last month said basic essentials, including power and internet, are not provided by Myanmar but by other countries, in a veiled reference to Thailand.
International pressure to dismantle these centres has grown after Chinese actor Wang Xing was abducted after arriving in Thailand last month. He was later freed by Thai police who found him in Myanmar.
For Thailand, the proliferation of these centres has impacted its vital tourism sector and the country has sought to allay safety concerns of visitors from China, a key source market.
Thailand’s Provincial Electricity Authority said it had cut a total of 20.37 megawatts of supply to five areas along the border starting from 9 a.m. on Wednesday, which would lead to a loss of 600 million baht ($17.84 million) in revenue per year.
It said the affected locations in Myanmar include Tachileik, Myawaddy and Phaya Thonsu, which all lie along the border with Thailand.
A resident of Phaya Thonsu, opposite Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province, said many locals have faced power cuts since Wednesday morning, while Chinese businesses, including scam centres, continue to operate on generators.
“Since the last two days, we have seen big generators arriving into the town. Today, those generators are running and their businesses including scam centres are still operating,” he told Reuters, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
“The businesses owned by locals have stopped and the town’s people are in trouble.”
($1 = 33.6300 baht)
(Writing by Shoon Naing, Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Christina Fincher)
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