A report released by Thailand’s Ministry of Justice stated that investigators from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) presented evidence related to human trafficking into Myanmar’s Karen State on Tuesday, Thailand’s Matichon newspaper reported. 

Prosecutors at the DSI Human Trafficking Crime Bureau in Bangkok are discussing a potential arrest warrant for Saw Chit Thu, the leader of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), which was rebranded as the Karen National Army (KNA) last year, on allegations of operating cyber scam centers in Myawaddy Township.

Myawaddy is located 80 miles (128 km) west of the Karen State capital Hpa-An along the Myanmar-Thailand border across from Mae Sot, Tak Province.

“The problem will not end unless its root cause is tackled,” said Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former prime minister and the de facto leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party led by his daughter Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. 

“Communities [in Myanmar] must realise they should no longer support those call-centre scam gangs,” Thaksin said to Thai media on Monday. “If the scammers are booted out of the country, we will resume the supply of electricity and internet signals,” he added.

Last month, Thaksin was selected to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) informal advisory committee by current chair Malaysia. He met with Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to discuss Myanmar on Feb. 2.

Thaksin pledged that Thailand’s Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) would resume the supply of power to five border towns in Myanmar if cyber scam operations are expelled from the country. Bangkok cut power and fuel imports to Karen State’s Shwe Kokko and Payathonzu, as well as Shan State’s Tachilek last Wednesday.

The DSI reportedly received evidence from an Indian national who was rescued after being trafficked and forced to work at a cyber scam operation in Myawaddy. It is also pursuing arrest warrants for two other BGF leaders, Saw Mote Thone and Saw Tin Win.