Myanmar unrest: 121 Malaysian job scam victims rescued and returned home

SEPANG: 121 Malaysians who fell victim to job scams in Myanmar have been brought back to Malaysia.

They were working under a scam syndicate in Laukking when unrest broke out in the region.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin said the 121 were brought home via a flight from Kunming, China.

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"At first we received a report that a civil war had broken out in Laukking and Myanmar authorities had rescued 26 Malaysians following an operation there.

"But when we activated our operations to bring them back, more and more Malaysians were identified in the weeks that followed.

"In total, 128 Malaysians were identified and we took steps to take them out of the conflict area.

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"Our Embassy in Yangon sent 10 diplomatic notes to the Myanmar government urging them to help us bring our citizens to safety," he said, adding that the Myanmar government cooperated with their requests.

He said they also worked with the Consulate General of Malaysia in Kunming, China as it was the nearest area to cross the Myanmar border into China.

"In the end we only managed to rescue 121 as well as an Indonesian national.

"Two Malaysians asked to be exempted from rescue while another Malaysian was over 1,000km away from the meeting point and could not get there in time while three others were not waiting at the meeting point at the border," he said, adding that the last Malaysian could not cross into China as he had a criminal record there and was barred entry.