Thailand to assess scam network relocation in neighbouring countries
Security agencies will assess tighter goods controls and screening as criminal groups shift people and equipment deeper into neighbouring countries.
- Thai authorities are planning to review and tighten border controls in response to persistent threats from transnational scam networks and human trafficking.
- The review is prompted by evidence that criminal networks, despite crackdowns, are adapting by relocating their operations from border areas further inland into neighboring countries like Cambodia and Myanmar.
- Proposed measures include stricter controls on goods that could support illegal activities (like SIM cards), increasing checkpoints, and enhancing screening to prevent people smuggling.
- Officials acknowledge that border interceptions alone are insufficient and that international cooperation is necessary, as simply destroying border bases only displaces the criminal operations elsewhere.
Gen Ukris Boontanondha, Chief of Defence Forces and chairman of the Border Security Integration Centre, is preparing to meet relevant agencies on October 30 to review progress in tackling narcotics and transnational crime.
Particular attention will focus on scam networks and human trafficking, which have become major threats along Thailand’s borders despite large-scale crackdowns involving the destruction of operating bases and the repatriation of foreign nationals.
Developments on the ground, however, show that the problem persists. The networks have adapted their operations, moving people and equipment as they flee border areas for the interior of neighbouring countries.
This is consistent with a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), entitled “Borderless Global Threats: Criminal Hubs and Regional Security in Southeast Asia”, commissioned by the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC).
The report highlights criminal hubs across the region, particularly in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, all of which border Thailand. The networks are involved in online fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, counterfeit production and money laundering.
Lax border controls, together with international trade and travel links, are key factors allowing illegal groups to move and repeatedly relocate their operations.
Gen Nattapong Praokaew, Chief of Joint Staff, said the centre’s meeting would consider tighter border controls covering goods and the prevention of people smuggling. The Border Goods Control Emergency Decree of 1981 provides a framework for agencies to coordinate controls on goods. More than 70 items are currently regulated, including chemicals, precursor substances and SIM cards that could support illegal activities.
Border command centres will tighten measures to prevent people smuggling by setting up checkpoints and interception points and screening individuals. Details of the measures will be discussed to improve the effectiveness of the agencies involved.
Nattapong acknowledged that, despite continuing crackdowns, some criminal networks had already moved further into neighbouring countries. Addressing the problem therefore required coordinated action by Thai officials alongside international cooperation, extending beyond interceptions at the border.
Security agencies are also focusing on Chinese tourists who are deceived or moved through Thailand to Myanmar’s border areas. They acknowledge that some people still slip through screening, making cooperation across all agencies necessary, particularly the police, who have direct responsibility.
Earlier, Zhang Jianwei, China’s ambassador to Thailand, met Gen Chaiyapruek Duangprapat, secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC), to exchange views on security, particularly ways to strengthen cooperation against transnational crime and cybercrime.
They also discussed foreigners, especially Chinese nationals, being deceived into travelling from Thailand to border areas in neighbouring countries. Both sides agreed that this was a serious problem requiring urgent, close cooperation to prevent and address harm to public safety.
Along the Thai-Myanmar border, particularly in Tak province under the responsibility of the Naresuan Force, the networks have not disappeared from the area. This is despite earlier operations to demolish buildings used as transnational crime bases in the special economic zone areas of Shwe Kokko and KK Park, and to repatriate large numbers of foreigners.
Information from security agencies indicates that foreigners continue to enter border areas, including those travelling willingly and others who may have been deceived. During October, at least six Chinese nationals who were due to be sent across the border were intercepted.
These developments show that demolishing some buildings or operating bases does not mean that criminal networks have ceased to exist altogether. The groups can move personnel, equipment and activities elsewhere to evade arrest and protect their interests.
The situation along the Thai-Cambodian border has become more complex following two rounds of military clashes, which led Thai troops to take control of several areas previously used as bases by transnational criminal networks. These included areas cited in connection with the use of military bases to attack Thailand.
Lt Col Khayakorn Chotiphanat, commander of the 25th Infantry Battalion, which is responsible for the O Smach area about 500 metres from the permanent Chong Chom border crossing in Kap Choeng district, Surin province, said:
“The groups involved have been gradually moving key equipment linked to scam operations and relocating about 10,000 people, using more than 100 transport vehicles to move into the Cambodian interior.”
Besides O Smach, there have also been movements in other border areas, including Chong An Ma in Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province, and Poipet, opposite Sa Kaeo province.
Equipment and about 2,000–3,000 people were reportedly moved in March from Thma Da, adjoining Trat province, to Pailin province, close to the border with Chanthaburi province.
The broader picture suggests that crackdowns or the loss of operating areas along the border may push transnational criminal networks to relocate rather than bring their illegal activities to a complete halt.
Although the Cambodian and Myanmar governments have announced major crackdowns on transnational crime following international pressure, their efforts remain constrained by the complexity of the networks, the interests involved and the groups’ ability to move between locations.
Sluggish economic conditions and limited employment opportunities in some areas are another factor that cannot be overlooked. Such conditions may allow illegal activities to persist, sustained by interests linked to various local individuals or groups.
The task for Thai security agencies therefore extends beyond intercepting people and goods at the border. It also requires tracing financial flows, broker networks, recruiters and equipment transport routes, alongside substantive cooperation with countries of origin and destination.
As long as these networks can move people, money and equipment, a crackdown on one operating base may simply displace the problem elsewhere.
The centre’s meeting on October 30 will therefore provide another test of whether Thai security agencies can move beyond border interceptions to sever the links that keep transnational criminal networks operating, before scams and human trafficking become more deeply entrenched in the region and their effects spill back into Thailand, causing continuing harm to national security.
