JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities are preparing to question about 550 citizens who began arriving home on Tuesday after being rescued from online scam centres in Myanmar, the largest group of returnees to the country since a multinational crackdown on crime hubs began.
The scam centres in Myawaddy, just across the border from Thailand, are part of a Southeast Asian network involving criminal gangs trafficking hundreds of thousands of people to generate illicit revenues running into billions of dollars a year, according to the United Nations.
About 200 Indonesians arrived at Jakarta’s airport on Tuesday morning from Myawaddy via Thailand and another 200 were to land in the afternoon, the chief security minister, Budi Gunawan, said in a news conference.
Around 154 more are expected to arrive on Wednesday, Budi added. They were among 7,000 people from different nationalities freed from the scam centres in Myawaddy in recent weeks.
“We will conduct an assessment to find out which ones among them are victims or perpetrators. Because maybe some of them were illegal players,” Budi said.
“We want the Southeast Asia region free from online scams,” he added.
The 554 people, consisting of 105 women and 449 men, were being taken to a dormitory usually reserved for hajj pilgrims, where they will be questioned by police, he said.
Those cleared would be allowed to return home but those suspected of having been willing participants in financial crimes would face legal procedures in Indonesia.
Video showed the arriving Indonesians wearing red masks and bandanas and being welcomed by authorities, including foreign minister Sugiono, after landing.
Some of them cried and hugged the officials.
Budi said some of them were beaten and received electric shocks before being rescued. Others were also threatened with having body parts taken if they failed to meet targets set by the cartel, he added.
“Be careful when you make friends on social media. I am the victim of social media,” a survivor with the initials DN told reporters.
Earlier this month, another group of 84 Indonesians returned home from Myanmar while 70 others remain in the country. Some of them were being detained and a few have refused to go home, Budi said.
Aside from Indonesia, China and India have also repatriated their citizens from Myawaddy but thousands still remain in the area including those from African nations.
Thailand has been coordinating efforts with Bangkok-based embassies to arrange for the return of their nationals.
