{"id":777011020,"date":"2023-11-10T04:52:10","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T07:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777011020"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:18:39","slug":"166-vietnamese-citizens-rescued-from-myanmar-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/166-vietnamese-citizens-rescued-from-myanmar-casinos","title":{"rendered":"166 Vietnamese citizens rescued from Myanmar casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Those rescued were reportedly being held at illegal casinos in northern border areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Vietnam.- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that 166 Vietnamese citizens have been rescued from illegal casinos in Myanmar. The ministry&#8217;s spokeswoman<strong> Pham Thu Hang<\/strong> said those rescued &#8220;have been taken to a safe place in the northern area of this country bordering China.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hang said the Vietnamese embassy in Myanmar is collaborating with authorities in Vietnam and China to formulate plans for the repatriation of those rescued.\u00a0The ministry advised Vietnamese citizens against travelling to Shan and Kayin states in Myanmar. Those already in these regions are urged to leave to another country or arrange for their return to Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October, <strong>61 Vietnamese citizens were also rescued from illegal casinos<\/strong>. Gambling is illegal in Myanmar, but there are a number of casinos in the country, mostly in border areas. They are often run by Chinese or Thai investors with collaboration from the Border Guard Force, an armed group associated with the region\u2019s Karen ethnic minority. The casinos have faced accusations of involvement in human trafficking, drug trafficking and internet scams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:&nbsp;<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/china-and-myanmar-arrest-269-cyber-scam-suspects\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">China and Myanmar arrest 269 cyber scam suspects<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those rescued were reportedly being held at illegal casinos in northern border areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777007112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has facilitated the rescue of 166 citizens from illicit casino operations in Myanmar's northern border regions. These establishments, often linked to human trafficking and cyber scams, operate despite gambling being illegal in Myanmar, raising significant concerns regarding regulatory enforcement and cross-border criminal enterprises. Repatriation efforts are underway, with advisories issued against travel to high-risk areas.","focusai_entities":"Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pham Thu Hang, Vietnamese embassy, Border Guard Force","focusai_location":"Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Shan, Kayin","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Myanmar's Regulatory Gaps?","query":"What specific governance frameworks and enforcement mechanisms are lacking in Myanmar that enable the proliferation of illegal casino operations and associated criminal activities like human trafficking and cyber scams?"},{"label":"Regional Repatriation Protocols?","query":"How are regional governments, particularly Vietnam and China, collaborating to establish robust cross-border protocols for the identification, rescue, and repatriation of citizens exploited in illicit gaming enterprises?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777011020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777011020"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777040984,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777011020\/revisions\/777040984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777007112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777011020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777011020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777011020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}