In the area of the Shwe Kokko new city project near Myawaddy township in Karen state, BGF(Border Guard Forces)have opened casino joint ventures with businessmen from China and Thailand. Women from all over the region were lured and recruited online by the employees themselves, in order to work in these casinos.
In the Shwe Kokko village (Shwe Kokko new city project) controlled by the Border Guard Forces (BGF), there is systematic abuse of employees who cannot recruit enough workers through online to meet the target, a witness said.
According to a young witness, the employees are required to recruit about 10 women a month, and if they fail to achieve a certain quota of new recruits, the BGF soldiers beat and torture them.
“ I’ ve been looking for new recruits online for almost a year now. They paid me 15,000 when I started working here. I recruited girls from Yangon and Taunggyi as well as people from abroad by speaking English. Girls from the Muse side often come here. We were instructed to recruit about 10 new people per month. During the months when we can’t recruit new people to meet the target, BGFs lock us in the room and beat us up. We don’t even dare to go to anyone to complain. We have been beaten like this for about 3 months”, the young man told KIC.
Since 2017, Yatai International Holding Group and the local BGF groups led by Colonel Saw Chit Thu, have cooperated to implement the Myanmar Yatai Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone project around 10 miles north of Myawaddy and activated the Shwe Kokko new city project.
Similar mafia operations run by overseas Chinese syndicates are known to operate along the Myanmar-Chinese border area of the Kokang, and in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville. However the Cambodian government cracked down the casino mafias that had tarnished the seaside attractions of Sihanoukville and its many beaches.
In the Myawaddy area Residents of the nearby Shwe Kokko neighborhoods also heard reports that BGF troops often tortured the employees who were responsible for recruiting new workers for casinos.
A local who did not want to be named for security reasons said, “We have also heard that employees who search for new workers online have been beaten up. However, because of their internal affairs, they tend to cover it up. Only people from the Chinese side can fully understand these issues”.
Since 2017, Yatai International Holding Group and the local BGF groups led by Colonel Saw Chit Thu have cooperated to implement the Myanmar Yatai Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone project, around 10 miles north of Myawaddy and activated the Shwe Kokko new city project.
There are many casinos in the economic zone, and many non-local migrant workers and Chinese employees are working there.
According to local news sources, many cases of illegal human trafficking have also arisen through fraudulent recruitment and various incentives online.
On May 7th, 2022, every household in Shwe Kokko village tract was charged 500 Thai baht to subsidise BGF soldiers who went to the front line, locals claimed KIC contacted the officials of the Shwe Kokko new city project to get their response to widespread reports of workers being beaten-up but we were unable to get any response.
