Myanmar, Southeast Asia: Rising crime posing regional, global threat

Increasing incidents of crime in Myanmar and across Southeast Asia, and an explosion of human trafficking for labour are becoming a regional and global security threat, says a new report of the US Institute of Peace.

"Reports since July [this year] have uncovered the emergence of vastly increased criminal activity in remote areas of Myanmar," said USIP, an American federal institution, in the report published on November 9.

This is relevant to Bangladesh as human trafficking of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from the shores of Myanmar and Bangladesh to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia became a serious issue when mass graves were discovered in Thai and Malaysian jungles in 2015.

Besides, trafficking of illegal drugs, notably methamphetamine or yaba, from Myanmar to all its neighbouring countries has risen alarmingly since the 2017 Rohingya influx in Bangladesh.

According to the home ministry data, police across Chattogram division seized 2.59 crore pills of yaba, which is a sharp rise from 34.76 lakh in 2016 and 1.2 crore in 2018.

Myanmar, which is historically known as a producer of opium, shifted its focus on the synthetic drug trade since the military coup in Myanmar in 2021, said Dhaka University International Relations Prof Imtiaz Ahmed.

USIP report said the criminal activities in Myanmar also got a new lease after the military coup.

"Lawless enclaves have also emerged in Cambodia and Laos. Crime networks in Cambodia alone have lured an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people into slave-like conditions beyond the reach of law enforcement. In Myanmar, the number could be two to three times higher," said the USIP report titled "Myanmar's Criminal Zones: A Growing Threat to Global Security".

According to UN Office of Drugs and Crimes, an estimated 240 casinos have been built in 120 special economic zones in the Mekong subregion and some of these areas have become hubs of serious criminal activities.

USIP report says the victims of crimes tell more or less the similar stories: A Kenyan national responded to a Facebook ad for a high-paying job in Thailand and was tricked into illegally crossing the border to a scam zone in Myanmar.

Then, a Malaysian man began a romantic relationship through social media and, after a single meeting, wound up trafficked into Myanmar.

"Once in the zones, the victims are given three choices: staff online scams, pay ransom or face physical and psychological torture," USIP report said.

Between February and March 2022, construction of new enclaves exploded along a 40-km stretch of the Moei River. USIP has so far identified 15 distinct criminal zones in the area.

"For the Myanmar army, revenue from organised crime via corrupt border guard forces has become a key pillar of its survival strategy."

So long as the current regime in Myanmar holds power, organised crime will spread to new parts of the country and increasingly pose a global security threat.

"Failure to address these growing challenges to global security will only encourage their unchecked spread and mutation into even more sinister forms."