Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that 400 Indonesian citizens who were victims of online fraud exploitation in Myanmar have been successfully evacuated from the Myawaddy conflict zone and are on their way back to their homeland.
Based on official information, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tuesday (18/3/2025), the Indonesian citizens were ferried from Myawaddy, Myanmar, to Maesot City in Thailand via the 2nd Friendship Bridge on the border of the two countries on Monday (17/3/2025).
The hundreds of Indonesian citizens consisted of 313 men and 87 women, and it was confirmed that they were all in good health. In addition, five of the women were known to be pregnant.
The Indonesian citizens who were successfully evacuated from Myawaddy came from 21 provinces. Most of them were from North Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, West Java, Jakarta, and North Sulawesi.
After being ferried to Thailand, they underwent a medical examination and National Referral Mechanism process to identify victims of human trafficking in Maesot.
They were then sent to Bangkok by road for nine hours in nine buses to return to Indonesia. The Indonesian citizens returned to their homeland via Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport in a chartered plane, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Indonesian citizen protection team, together with the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, the Indonesian Embassy in Yangon, and the Indonesian National Police's International Relations Division (Hubinter), were tasked with identifying and escorting the 400 Indonesian citizens from Myawaddy to their arrival in their homeland.
Intensive coordination was also carried out with the Thai and Myanmar authorities to ensure the smooth process of crossing the border from Myawaddy to Maesot, until their return to Indonesia.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all of the Indonesian citizens will arrive at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Tuesday morning. The Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand, Rachmat Budiman, is directly overseeing their return to Jakarta.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that there are still 154 Indonesian citizens who will be transferred from Myawaddy to Maesot, also on Tuesday, and they will arrive in Indonesia on Wednesday (19/3).
Previously, the Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha, revealed that as many as 525 Indonesian citizens involved in online scams are currently still trapped in Myawaddy, Myanmar. He said that this number is even more than the previous data his party had.
‘So, when we were in Mae Sot (Thailand-ed), we received information from the Myanmar side that initially at that time there were 366 Indonesian citizens. Currently, we have received an official note from Myanmar stating that the number of Indonesian citizens that have been recorded has reached 525, this is a very large number,’ said Judha in a press briefing on Thursday (6/3/2025).
Judha stated that his party was currently coordinating with the relevant authorities in Thailand in an effort to deport hundreds of Indonesian citizens. This is because, according to him, Thailand was previously used as a transit country in the process of deporting Indonesian citizens involved in online scams from the Myawaddy area.