(MENAFN) India has successfully extracted its first group of nationals who escaped to Thailand following a military strike on a notorious cyber fraud compound in Myanmar. Two Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft evacuated 270 individuals, including 26 women, from the Thai border community of Mae Sot on Thursday.

The Embassy of India in Bangkok and Consulate of India in Chiang Mai, working alongside multiple Thai government agencies, coordinated the rescue operation, the Indian diplomatic mission confirmed via X. The embassy simultaneously issued warnings urging Indian citizens to thoroughly authenticate employment opportunities before accepting overseas positions.

Officials anticipate repatriating a total of 465 Indians, with remaining evacuees scheduled to depart Thailand next Monday. Thai immigration authorities had detained the group after they crossed from Myanmar in violation of entry regulations.

Myanmar's military launched a mid-October raid on KK Park, a cyber operations facility, as part of an intensified campaign against transnational online fraud networks and illicit gambling operations. Media accounts indicate that over 1,500 nationals from multiple countries—including China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Kenya, and India—fled during the enforcement action. Thai authorities established temporary processing centers in Mae Sot to accommodate and screen those fleeing across the border.

Scam networks operating throughout Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines have generated escalating alarm in recent years, with United Nations estimates suggesting these operations extract tens of billions of dollars annually from global victims, a media report stated. Criminal tactics span fraudulent investment schemes to romance-based deception.

Indians hemorrhaged approximately $820 million to online scams during the initial five months of 2025, an Indian newspaper reported, referencing data compiled for the country's Home Ministry. Over half of those losses flowed to scammers headquartered in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The Indian government recently convened discussions with Cambodian representatives in New Delhi to forge a collaborative strategy addressing the proliferation of fraud centers.

Earlier in 2025, India repatriated 549 of its citizens who had been liberated from cybercrime facilities along the Myanmar-Thailand border during comparable enforcement operations.

MENAFN10112025000045017169ID1110318736