Kenya has repatriated 119 of its citizens rescued from illegal scam operations in Myanmar, with authorities warning that hundreds more remain stranded in shelters and detention facilities across the region.
The victims were trafficked to Myanmar after being lured by fake overseas job offers and later forced to work in online fraud centres operating in the country’s conflict-hit Karen State near the Thai border.
In a statement the Kenyan Foreign Ministry said September raids by Myanmar authorities on the scam compounds led criminal operators to flee, abandoning foreign workers who then sought refuge in military shelters in towns such as Myawaddy and Shwe Kokko, while others crossed into Thailand.
Officials said more than 200 Kenyans were left in Myanmar shelters and over 100 entered Thailand, with 198 nationals still awaiting repatriation, including some held in Thailand’s immigration detention centre.
The returnees are now being interviewed by Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations to help prosecute trafficking syndicates.
The operation comes amid a wider regional crackdown on Southeast Asia’s cyber-scam networks, which have ensnared thousands of foreign workers from Africa and beyond in recent years.
This is a clip of Kenyans who are stranded in Myanmar.
The slave trade merchants who auctioned them are now silent.
This country has a ministry of foreign affairs funded using taxpayers money.
These people have been crying for help for two months now and no action is being… pic.twitter.com/DBFE29n6XC
— I am Chege (@_James041) December 19, 2025
