Laos arrests nearly 800 people over cyber scam network

BANGKOK, Thailand — Security forces in Laos have arrested nearly 800 people working for a cyber scam network in a shady "special economic zone" on the border with Myanmar and Thailand, local media reported.

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ), located in Laos' Bokeo province, is home to a number of Chinese-owned casinos and hotels, and has emerged as a suspected hub for illegal activity in recent years.

The crackdown is part of a larger effort to stamp out transnational crimes within the SEZ, Laotian media reported.

A total of 771 people were detained when authorities dismantled the online fraud ring on August 12, the Laotian Times reported this week.

Among those arrested were 489 men and 282 women from 15 different nationalities, according to the outlet, which like all media in one-party communist Laos, operates under strict government control.

It said the operation was one of the "most significant" in the region's history and involved substantial collaboration with international security forces, including from China.

Those arrested were mostly from Laos, Myanmar and China, but also included people from Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, Tunisia, the Philippines, Uganda and Vietnam.

Following the arrests, the Laotian nationals were given warnings and sent back to their local communities with the help of their relatives, report said.

The detainees from China were transferred to Chinese authorities on 15 August. The remaining foreigners were handed over to their respective embassies.

The operation comes after Vietnamese and Laos police successfully dismantled a large-scale cyber fraud and human trafficking operation in the SEZ this month.

They arrested 155 Vietnamese nationals involved in "sophisticated, cross-border fraudulent activities", according to the official Vietnam News Agency.

The sprawling SEZ has seen a rapid surge in illicit activities since it was set up in 2007, including drug smuggling, gambling and associated criminal activities, Crisis Group wrote in a report last year.