Special report by Anantachai Watcharasathian, TV Channel 7
SUSPICIONS have arisen that scam networks dabble in more than financial fraud and human trafficking with security agencies believing they are also linked to heinous crimes such as organ trafficking.
The scam empire that was exposed to the world after Thai troops secured O’Smach area, opposite the Chong Chom border crossing in Surin province, with the fraudsters having fled before Thai and Khmer troops started fighting last year, revealed a wealth of evidence and traces of their nefarious activities.
These include mock-ups of police stations from various countries — complete with uniforms and scripts for different types of scam calls. Investigators also discovered torture devices and underground cells believed to be used to detain victims who failed to meet their performance quotas.
Most alarming, however, was the discovery of Song Nan Hospital. This facility offered more than just general medical care; it featured fully equipped operating rooms, raising suspicions among security agencies that human organ trafficking had taken place.
People’s MP Rangsiman Rome, who also chairs House Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Human Rights, too believes organ trafficking occur at scam hubs in Cambodia, and aside from O’Smach others are located in Poipet and Bavet, and are linked to fraud factories in Myanmar with the most prominent ones being Shwe Kokko and KK Park.
He attributed the existence of this abhorrent business to black market demand because legal organ donation involves long waiting lists so wealthy individuals often turn to this illicit alternative.
Data from Interpol indicates that over the past five years, victims from 66 countries have been trafficked to scam centres across Southeast Asia.
The government is urged to take decisive action — shutting down channels for illicit capital flows and dismantling these criminal networks — before the problem escalates into a national security threat that becomes impossible to resolve.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: The huge scam complex at O’Smach. Photo – Amarin TV
Insert: Some hospital beds at the O’Smach fraud factory. Photo – TV Channel 7
Also read:
Sarcasm launched on House floor over hush-hush ties between election commissioners. Newin
Several among 22 Bhumjaithai figures might be sued in Supreme Court over senatorial rigging plot
Election Commissioners might be sued in Constitutional Court over senatorial rigging conspiracy
A few more Bhumjaithai ministers emerge alongside Anutin, Newin over senatorial rigging plot
Sondhi kicks off multi-provincial tour with Israeli embassy being first stop
Rewat sets up party of his own to combat graft in govt, drug dealers
Pheu Thai MPs tipped to abstain from voting for PM after censure debate
25 years later, WoT has the “War on Terror” achieved?
Wife of Frenchman ordered deported submits appeal
Hong Kong man dies in fall from hotel, likely stressed after being ripped off
Supajee pins Sondhi’s allegations of excessive foreign access on regulatory adjustment
