By Ananda Teresia and Stefanno Sulaiman
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia will question hundreds of its citizens arriving in the capital on Tuesday after they were rescued from online scam compounds in Myanmar, the largest batch of arrivals in the country following a multinational crackdown on the operation.
Myanmar’s Myawaddy scam centres are part of a Southeast Asia network involving criminal gangs trafficking hundreds of thousands of people to help 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 will 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 scam centres in Myawaddy following a multinational crackdown to dismantle the illegal compounds.
“We will conduct an assessment to find out which ones amongst them are victims or perpetrators. Because maybe some of them are the illegal players,” Budi said.
“We want the Southeast Asia region free from online scams,” he said.
The 554 people, consisting of 105 women and 449 men, will be 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 being willing participants in financial crimes would face legal processes in Indonesia.
Footage 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 electrocuted before being rescued. Others were also threatened that their body parts would be 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.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Gibran Peshimam and Saad Sayeed)
