In the first week of November, two Indian Air Force transport planes touched down at Hindon Air Base in New Delhi, bringing back 270 rescued Indians—including 26 women—from a hidden crime ring in Myanmar’s Myawaddy. The rescue wasn’t triggered by a natural disaster; instead it targeted a trans‑national cyber‑slavery network run by Chinese‑linked crime syndicates.
The victims had been lured to “digital‑marketing” jobs in Southeast Asia on tourist visas. Once in Myawaddy, they were forced into online scams, crypto fraud, and romance cons, under threat of torture and even death. Chinese mafia groups, backed by local militias, operate large “tech‑park” compounds such as KK Park and Shwe Kokko, which look like business hubs but are actually cyber‑crime factories.
Between January 2022 and May 2024, over 29,000 Indians crossed into Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam on tourist visas and never returned. Many of them are believed to have fallen into the same cyber‑slavery rings. Indian officials say the scheme thrives in law‑less border zones, where armed guards and surveillance keep workers in line and punish failures with violence or resale to other camps.
Satish, a restaurant manager from Maharashtra, told officials he was sold for $5,000 and beaten for minor mistakes after his passport was seized. Another victim, Pradeep Vijay, was held for nearly a year before his family paid ₹10 lakh for his release. These testimonies highlight how the crime syndicates run a modern slave economy powered by laptops and stolen identities.
The New Delhi operation succeeded amidst chaos. Myanmar’s military had launched a takeover of Myawaddy in late October, forcing many scam operators—primarily Chinese nationals—to flee. In the confusion, hundreds of Indian workers including the rescued 270 crossed the Moei River into Thailand’s Mae Sot region. Indian diplomatic teams in Bangkok and Yangon quickly identified the stranded citizens, worked with Thai police, Interpol and Myanmar authorities, and flew them home on the IAF aircraft dispatched from Chiang Mai.
This is not India’s first rescue. Earlier in 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs saved 549 Indians in March and over 60 in April from similar cyber‑slavery compounds. Each mission requires delicate negotiations with multiple governments, cyber‑intelligence mapping and round‑the‑clock coordination by the MEA’s Crisis Management Cell.
After landing, the rescued Indians undergo debriefing to uncover recruitment routes and expose the criminal networks. Delhi officials say the focus is to dismantle the trafficking infrastructure, not to punish the victims. The Indian Embassy in Bangkok has issued stern warnings against overseas job offers that sound too good to be true and reminded travelers that tourist visas do not allow employment.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said roughly 500 Indian nationals were stranded in Thailand after fleeing Myawaddy and called the KK Cyber Hub a threat to national credibility. For India, the crisis is both humanitarian and a national‑security issue, because the same networks drive global cybercrime, cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering that can destabilise economies.
Operation Myawaddy showcases India’s growing ability to project humanitarian and strategic influence beyond its borders. By combining the MEA, the IAF, and intelligence agencies, India has proven it will not abandon its citizens—even when they are trapped in foreign criminal networks that blend technology, exploitation and geopolitics.
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