While a dramatic and highly-publicised operation by the Thai, Chinese and Myanmar authorities has led to the release of more than 7,000 people from online scam compounds in Myanmar, for many it is the beginning of another nightmare.
More than a month after the crackdown began, thousands of people are still detained in Myanmar, kept in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions by the armed groups that arranged their release.
The Associated Press obtained exclusive photos of people squatting in rows, stacked against each other, surgical masks covering some of their eyes and mouths.
In clandestine calls, survivors say they fear for their lives as illness is rampant and conditions are unsafe.
They sleep on floors in army camps or former scam compounds guarded by armed militia groups. In one army camp, 800 people are sharing 10 toilets, one survivor said.
Getting home is dependent on the resources available by country.
China sent a chartered flight to the tiny Mae Sot airport to pick up its citizens, but few other governments have matched that.
There are roughly 130 Ethiopians waiting on a Thai military base, stuck for want of a US$600 plane ticket.
Their plight has drawn concern from the US State Department and demands for their release from international human rights organisations, but Thai officials won’t allow people to cross the border until their home countries arrange for them to leave immediately.
There are a handful of advocacy groups operating at the border helping.
Thailand is working with embassies to coordinate the release and handover of people, but said it can only handle up to 300 people per day, down from 500 initially.
Gangs running illegal scams have trapped hundreds of thousands of people in locked compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia and other places in Southeast Asia.
The victims say they were lured with promises of lucrative jobs, only to find themselves locked in buildings where they describe being forced to sit at computers up to 16 hours a day running scams. Refusing to work could bring beatings, starvation and electric shocks.
As outrage grew in China following the kidnapping of a young actor, Beijing pressured authorities in Thailand and Myanmar to act.
The Thai government cut off power and electricity, and government-aligned armed groups that control areas near Myanmar’s border with Thailand released several thousand people from scam centres. But no bosses were arrested. (AP)
