Inside the "Shwe Padauk Myaing" scam hub: torture and human trafficking uncovered in Myawaddy

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Major General Saw Chit-thu (left), Major General Saw Tin Win (middle) and Colonel Saw Htoo Eh-mu (right) are seen at the ceremony to officially change the name of the BGF to the KNA on January 1. A Chinese national who escaped from the Yulong Bay (aka Shwe Pi Tauk Myaing) online money laundering operation near Thae Pon village in Myawaddy township, owned by Colonel Saw Htoo Eh-mu, the son of Karen National Army (KNA) leader Major General Saw Chit-thu. Many foreigners are being tortured and forced to work in the Yulong Bay (aka Shwe Pi Tauk Myaing) online money laundering operation near Thae Pon village in Myawaddy township, according to a Chinese national who escaped from the operation. Mizzima Special Correspondent Han Htoo Zaw (Mizzima)  A Chinese survivor who recently escaped the Yulong Bay (also known as Shwe Padauk Myaing) online scam compound near Thae Pone village, Myawaddy Township, has exposed a brutal system of daily torture, extortion, and forced labour involving over ...
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ICJ genocide case 'flawed and unfounded': Myanmar govt

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AFP

An international court case against Myanmar for genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority is “flawed and unfounded”, Yangon’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.

In a statement published in a state newspaper it called on the International Court of Justice, which began hearings in The Hague on Monday, to “reach its judgement based on fact and settled law strictly within the framework of the Genocide Convention”.

ICJ judges are hearing three weeks of testimony as they weigh accusations by The Gambia that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya in a 2017 crackdown.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled violence by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias, escaping to neighbouring Bangladesh and bringing harrowing accounts of mass rape, arson and murder.

On the first day of the hearings Gambia’s justice minister Dawda Jallow told the court the Rohingya “have been targeted for destruction”.

Lawyers for Myanmar will begin their court response on Friday.

The allegations made by The Gambia are flawed and unfounded in fact and law,” said the Yangon foreign ministry statement.

“Biased reports, based on unreliable evidence, cannot make up for truth.”

The country — ruled by a military junta since a coup in 2021 — was co-operating with the ICJ “in good faith” in a sign of its respect for international law, it added.

The statement did not use the word Rohingya, referring instead to “persons from Rakhine state”.

Today, 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed into dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

Myanmar has always maintained the crackdown by its armed forces was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead.

A final decision could take months or even years, and while the ICJ has no means of enforcing its decisions, a ruling in favour of The Gambia would heap more  political pressure on Myanmar.

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