NEW DELHI: The second batch of 266 people were airlifted back to India after being rescued from scam call centres in South East Asia.
In a social media post on X, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Indian Embassies worked with Myanmar & Thailand governments to secure their release & facilitate their repatriation
“Government of India arranged for the safe repatriation of 266 Indians yesterday by an IAF aircraft, who were released from cybercrime centres in South East Asia. On Monday, 283 Indians were similarly repatriated,” Jaiswal said.
“Indian Embassies worked with Myanmar & Thailand governments to secure their release & facilitate their repatriation,” he added.
This comes days after 266 men and 17 women were evacuated by a C-17 Indian military plane.
A C-17 Indian military plane Monday evacuated 266 men and 17 women stuck at the Thai-Myanmar border for weeks after being rescued from scam call centres in Myanmar’s Myawaddy.
Authorities in Myanmar, under pressure from ally China, have cracked down in recent weeks on illegal online fraud operations that have flourished in the country’s lawless borderlands.
Around 7,000 workers from at least two dozen countries have been freed, the majority of them Chinese, but many have been languishing in squalid conditions in temporary holding camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Authorities say many victims were recruited through social media and fake employment agencies, particularly targeting those with IT skills. These scams, often operating in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, promise lucrative salaries and attractive benefits. Once the recruits arrive, their passports are confiscated, and they are held in heavily guarded compounds, coerced into running online scams under the threat of violence.
MEA also reiterated its caution for Indian nationals to verify credentials of foreign employers before taking up job offers.
“The Government of India has been making sustained efforts to secure the release and repatriation of Indian nationals lured to various southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, with fake job offers. These persons were subsequently made to indulge in cybercrime and engage in other fraudulent activities in scam centres operating in regions along the Myanmar-Thailand border,” MEA said in a statement.
“The Government of India wishes to reiterate its caution, circulated earlier from time to time through advisories and social media posts, about such rackets. Indian nationals are once again advised to verify credentials of foreign employers through Missions abroad and check the antecedents of recruiting agents and companies before taking up a job offer,” it added.
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