A total of 266 Thais, many of whom were lured to work in Myanmar with promises of attractive pay, but were forced to work for Chinese-operated online scam gangs in Laukkai township in Shan state, were flown back to Bangkok early this morning.
Two AirAsia and Lion Air flights were chartered by the Thai Foreign Ministry to fly the Thais, six Filipinos and one Singaporean from Kunming in China’s Yunnan province to Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport at about 3am Monday morning.
Coordinated by the Thai embassy in Yangon and the Thai consular office in Kunming, with the help of the Myanmar and Chinese governments, all the evacuees were allowed to cross the Chinese border from Laukkai, the principal township in the Kokang self-administered zone, to Kunming on Saturday.
Evacuation of the Thais from Laukkai was, however, hampered by heavy fighting.
After going through the immigration process,…
