13 December- A disturbing video circulating on Facebook has exposed the brazenness of human-trafficking operations along the Moei River in Mae Sot, Tak province, where foreign victims are routinely forced across the border into Myanmar’s scam compounds. The clip, posted on December 13 by a user under the name “Prometheus Ck,” shows a foreign man with his hands tied being dragged out of a pickup truck and taken toward a riverside compound before being ferried across to Myawaddy. In the video description, the poster wrote that the victim screamed for help before traffickers shocked him with an electric device and forced him across the river to work as a slave. The poster admitted witnessing the entire incident but being unable to intervene, saying the memory haunts him every day.
The incident is believed to have taken place in the former ‘Jaguar factory’ area of Huai Muang village, Tha Sai Luat, an industrial compound that ceased operations years ago and has since become a densely populated settlement for Myanmar migrants. Over the past two years it has become a key point for trafficking foreign nationals deceived into coming to Thailand and then moved across the Moei River to scam centres in Myawaddy controlled by the Karen Border Guard Force. The owner of the clip told reporters he has filmed numerous trafficking operations over the past two years and decided to release them to warn the public. He said the traffickers are mostly Myanmar nationals, with some Thais involved, and that most smuggling takes place at night. During recent explosions at KK Park in Myanmar, he said hundreds of Chinese and foreign scam workers crossed through this same route nightly, with Thai vehicles waiting to receive them. He added that he had also recently recorded the smuggling of 40 Starlink satellite units being moved across the river through the same corridor.
A security source familiar with Mae Sot’s border region said authorities have long been aware that the area is filled with grey and black-market activity, but little enforcement has occurred. The source claimed traffickers routinely pay police 3,000 baht per victim and transporters receive 4,000 THB per head, ensuring that no meaningful investigation follows. The area, the source noted, has historically been a transit point for Rohingya trafficking and illegal migrant workers from Myanmar. Over the past two years it has effectively become a logistics hub for moving human beings in and out of Thailand.
The source also said that both the Karen Border Guard Force and DKBA are now occupied with relocating Chinese scam syndicate workers from Myawaddy and surrounding holding centres to new, more remote scam compounds to evade arrest and repatriation to China. A major new crime hub under BGF commander Tin Win is reportedly being developed near Lo Bo and Pa Kru villages.
Meanwhile, tensions continue in areas where the Karen National Union (KNU) has launched operations against scam complexes. After KNU forces seized Shunda Park in Min La Pan, opposite Huai Maha Wong in Mae Sot, 266 foreign nationals remain stranded on the banks of the Moei River. These include two Indians, two Pakistanis and more than 250 Chinese nationals. Many have refused to cross into Thailand due to fears of being handed over to Chinese authorities and are instead attempting to negotiate relocation to other border areas such as Payathonzu opposite Kanchanaburi. More than 900 additional foreign nationals reportedly remain inside nearby buildings surrounded by KNU troops and have also refused repatriation.
The video, which has stirred strong reactions online, underscores a long-running problem at the Thai–Myanmar border where trafficking networks, corrupt officials and transnational crime groups continue to operate openly despite repeated government pledges to crack down. The Facebook account “Prometheus Ck,” which published the video, said the purpose of releasing the footage was simple: to stop more people from falling victim to the same fate.
This is a translation of original Thai news article https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=44676
Video credit: Facebook / Prometheus Ck
