The Kokang capital of Laukkai on the China-Myanmar border was unknown to most of the world until it became an international online scam den and the site of intense armed conflict that has displaced thousands.
However, the governments of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Laos have turned their attention to the small town as evidence emerged that citizens of those countries had fallen prey to gangs running fraud and human trafficking operations from the small town.
As most of the world was preoccupied by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the intensifying conflict in Israel and Palestine, an insidious web of criminal operations materialised in Laukkai, with consequences on a massive scale extending far beyond the local setting.
Already burdened with the effort to free Thai citizens taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza, the Thai government is now bearing the added responsibility of freeing and helping hundreds of their. . .