Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs Phumtham Wechayachai said today that the electricity, fuel and internet cuts to five locations in three Myanmar border townships will negatively affect Thailand’s border economy, but maintains that the measure is unavoidable if the operations of scam call centres are to be disrupted.
He said it is too soon to assess the full impacts or success of the measure, because the power supply has only been cut for a day, but that power consumption in Shwe Kokko, one of the two centres of call centre operations in Myawaddy, has reduced by 60%.
Regarding the possibility that Myawaddy and Tachileik townships may source electricity from Laos as an alternative, the deputy prime minister said he might approach Laos for talks about possible cooperation in the crackdown on the call centres.
He also said that he will instruct Thai security forces to step up border patrols, to prevent the use of hundreds of people, each carrying a small amount of petrol purchased in Thailand into Myanmar, known locally as the “ant army”.
The five locations in Myanmar where electricity supplies have been cut include two each in Myawaddy and Tachileik and one in Payathonzu township, opposite the Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi province.
