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The Laotian authorities have ordered all licensed online gambling operators in the notorious Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone to relocate to a single location in the zone, marking the latest phase of a national crackdown on cyber-crime.
The national authority supervising special economic zones (SEZs) issued the order to improve monitoring of cyber compliance and streamline inspections, the Laotian Times reported on Thursday (November 7).
Sixteen companies and 95 of their subsidiaries licensed to engage in online gambling services must relocate to a specific precinct within two weeks, the report said.
The decision is noteworthy for overlapping with a campaign by Bokeo provincial authorities against flourishing criminal activity in the Golden Triangle SEZ, whose chief administrator Zhao Wei has been blacklisted by the US Treasury.
The Bokeo provincial government in August established a task force targeting the zone’s criminal networks, particularly cyber-scamming call centres, whose operators the task force may now detain, investigate and prosecute.
Laotian state media have reported the closure of more than 200 illegal call centres in the Golden Triangle SEZ over the course of several campaigns, purportedly with the assistance of the Chinese government and zone management.
The number of such call centres had jumped from 305 to 400 over the previous year, Radio Free Asia cited a public security ministry official as saying on August 12.
Police raids in August confirmed that some cyber-scamming operations in the Golden Triangle SEZ continue to rely on trafficked migrant labour, sometimes via Thailand.
Radio Free Asia reported that, as of August 12, local and visiting Chinese authorities had conducted nine raids, deporting 1,389 employees.
One major raid detained 771 workers at an alleged cyber-scamming centre, hailing from 15 nations across Asia and Africa.
Separately, 14 Indian nationals were rescued from a cyber-scamming precinct after intervention from the Indian Embassy.
The Laotian Times reported that the national SEZ authority “urged” Chinese investors with cyber-scamming interests to “shift to legal investments” and that documentary standards will be enforced and illegal operations axed.
Growing international concern over extensive cyber-scamming and online gambling operations across Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia has prompted these nations’ governments to introduce countermeasures of variable impact and enthusiasm.
Laos does not suffer from the military instability that has enveloped Myanmar, and Laotian authorities seem less corruptible and compromised by criminal actors than their counterparts in Cambodia. As a result, the government’s crackdowns over time have reportedly forced illegal operators into militia-held border areas in nearby Myanmar.
Aside from cyber-scamming, the Golden Triangle SEZ remains a hub for trafficking in drugs, banned animal products and other contraband, according to the US government and independent monitors of Southeast Asian criminal networks.
