The Royal Thai Police (RTP) is setting up an international coordination centre so officers can collaborate with foreign embassies to prevent foreign nationals from joining scam gangs in Myanmar.
Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, the RTP inspector-general, said the centre will enable collaboration between Thai police and foreign embassies in tackling call centre scams, particularly in Mae Sot district of Tak, which has become a major transit route for people joining illicit operations in Myawaddy, Myanmar.
"I believe this effort will help reduce the number of foreigners crossing the border into Myanmar through Mae Sot," he said.
On Friday, Pol Gen Thatchai, in his capacity as director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Centre and Thailand's Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression, chaired a meeting with representatives of 16 countries whose citizens are at high risk of being lured into working for scammers in Myawaddy.
Ambassadors and diplomats from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Tanzania, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Brazil, the United States, Morocco, India, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Russia attended the meeting.
Also present were the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Earlier, National Police Chief Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch issued stringent measures aimed at preventing foreign criminals from entering Thailand; stricter checks at airports and border checkpoints and checkpoints along major travel routes; the monitoring of accommodation and tourist sites; investigations into travel routes and safe houses; and tighter border security operations and coordination.
Cooperation with international agencies has also been in place to ensure more tangible results.
"Embassies expressed strong support for Thailand's efforts to strengthen cross-border law enforcement cooperation and combat illegal border crossings," said Pol Gen Thatchai.
The international coordination centre will provide real-time data sharing and rapid communication between Thai police and international agencies.
"I urge all embassies to take part in the coordination centre to eliminate call centre scam gangs. Meetings will be held regularly by the RTP to assess the situation and prepare for the setting up of the centre, starting from now," Pol Gen Thatchai said.
To prevent foreigners from seeking employment with call centre operations in Myanmar, authorities must first prevent them from entering Mae Sot, he said.
However, this is a challenging task, he said.
Despite warnings from the authorities, many use Mae Sot as an entry point towards what they believe is a better life with high earnings, whether with call centre gangs or online gambling operators, in Myanmar, he said.
In many cases, however, they were just duped into working for criminals, he said.
"They come without a proper travel itinerary," he said. "Because authorities have no background information on [who they are], we don't know if they've been deceived or are willing to be involved in criminal activities."
This information gap led to the formation of the international coordination centre.
It aims to enable the authorities to contact embassies whenever one of their citizens arrives in Mae Sot without a clear travel plan.
Foreign embassy staff can then contact their compatriots directly to warn them against illegally crossing the border and participating in illegal work.
When asked whether the centre would help recover victims who had already crossed into Myanmar, Pol Gen Thatchai said such cases must go through border coordination committees and Myanmar authorities.
Regarding China's recent cooperation with Thai police on similar matters, he expressed confidence the situation would improve due to increased intelligence sharing with Chinese police.
"We cannot take direct action in Myawaddy, so international coordination is our only option," he said.
Prevention efforts have been in place not only in Mae Sot but also in other high-risk border areas in other provinces, such as Kanchanaburi, Surin and Chiang Rai.
Police are also considering using Sections 11 and 15 of the Immigration Act to impose stricter entry conditions for Mae Sot, he added.

Thachai: We can't take direct action