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A one hour power cut between 5pm and 9.30pm today [13] – CEB
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has announced.that a one-hour power cut will be imposed in different zones under 04 categories between 5.00 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. today (13).
More than 250 people from 20 nationalities including a Sri Lankan who had been working in telecom fraud centres in Myanmar’s Karen State have been released by an ethnic armed group and brought to Thailand.
The workers, more than half of whom were from African or Asian nations, were received by the Thai army, and are being assessed to find out if they were victims of human trafficking.
Last week Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra met Chinese leader Xi Jinping and promised to shut down the scam centres which have proliferated along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Her government has stopped access to power and fuel from the Thai side of the border, and toughened up banking and visa rules to try to prevent scam operators from using Thailand as a transit country for moving workers and cash.
Some opposition MPs in Thailand have been pushing for this kind of action for the past two years.
Foreign workers are typically lured to these scam centres by offers of good salaries, or in some cases tricked into thinking they will be doing different work in Thailand, not Myanmar.
The scammers look for workers with skills in the languages of those who are targeted for cyber-fraud, usually English and Chinese.
They are pressed into conducting online criminal activity, ranging from love scams known as “pig butchering” and crypto fraud, to money laundering and illegal gambling.
Some are willing to do the work, but others are forced to stay, with release only possible if their families pay large ransoms. Some of those who have escaped have described being tortured.
The released foreign workers were handed over by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, DKBA, one of several armed factions which control territory inside Karen State.
These armed groups have been accused of allowing the scam compounds to operate under their protection, and of tolerating the widespread abuse of trafficking victims who are forced to work in the compounds.
The Myanmar government has been unable to extend its control over much of Karen State since independence in 1948.
On Tuesday, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation, which is similar to the US FBI, requested arrest warrants for three commanders of another armed group known as the Karen National Army.
The warrants included Saw Chit Thu, the Karen warlord who struck a deal in 2017 with a Chinese company to build Shwe Kokko, a new city believed to be largely funded by scams.
The BBC visited Shwe Kokko at the invitation of Yatai, the company which built the city.
Yatai says there are no more scams in Shwe Kokko. It has put up huge billboards all over town proclaiming, in Chinese, Burmese and English, that forced labour is not allowed, and that “online businesses” should leave.
But we were told by local people that the scam business was still running, and interviewed a worker who had been employed in one.
Like the DKBA, Saw Chit Thu broke away from the main Karen insurgent group, the KNU, in 1994, and allied himself to the Myanmar military.
Under pressure from Thailand and China, both Saw Chit Thu and the DKBA have said they are expelling the scam businesses from their territories.
The DKBA commander contacted a Thai member of parliament on Tuesday to arrange the handover of the 260 workers.
They included 221 men and 39 women, from Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Nepal, Uganda, Laos, Burundi, Brazil, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sir Lanka, India, Ghana and Cambodia.
[BBC]
A car has driven into a group of people in Munich leaving at least 20 injured, including two seriously, emergency services have said.
The local fire service said some of those hurt were in a “life-threatening condition”.
The driver was detained at the scene and poses no further danger, local police said. A major operation is under way in the Dachauer Strasse area, near the German city’s central train station.
The incident happened at the scene of a rally linked to the transport union Verdi, according to local media.
A police spokesman told broadcaster BR that officers were checking whether there was a link to the demonstration.
Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter said children were among those injured. “I am deeply shocked. My thoughts are with the injured,” he told local media.
The injured are being treated, police said, adding rescue helicopters were at the scene.
Police said they could not confirm whether anyone else was involved, following unconfirmed reports of a second person in the car.
This comes hours before world leaders including Ukraine’s President Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance will arrive in the city for the Munich security conference, which takes place on Friday.
The incident occurred around 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) from the security conference venue, and people have been advised to avoid the scene, which has been sealed off.
Police have asked for eyewitnesses to come forward with information and footage of the incident.
[BBC]
Two men have been arrested following a seizure of €5m (£4m) worth of cocaine in County Kildare.
On Wednesday, gardaí (Irish police) stopped and searched a vehicle and a residential property in the Allenwood area of Kildare and approximately 72kg of cocaine was discovered.
The men, aged in their 50s and 60s, were arrested in relation to facilitating and enhancing drug distribution activities for an organised crime group.
They were subsequently charged and are due before Naas District Court on Thursday.
Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis of Organised and Serious Crime said it “is another significant seizure of cocaine destined for the Irish market”.
“An Garda Síochána and our law enforcement partners are committed to targeting those engaged in drug related organised crime that leads to harm, intimidation and violence in our communities nationwide.”
[BBC]
Sri Lankan among hundreds of foreigners freed from Myanmar’s scam centres
At least 20 injured after car drives into crowd in Munich
€5m worth of cocaine seized in Kildare
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