A group of 130 Thai nationals who had worked for online gambling operations in Vientiane have been handed back to Thailand to face legal action, following a gambling crackdown in Laos.
The men and women were received yesterday, August 13, by a team comprising Nong Khai Immigration officers, Mueang Nong Khai police, and Thai embassy staff in Vientiane. The handover followed a Lao operation against an online gambling and scam network in the capital.
All 130 were brought across the first Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge in Mueang Nong Khai district and taken for screening by a multi-disciplinary team at the Nong Khai Territorial Defence Volunteers base.
Initial checks found no human trafficking victims, no one who had been deceived into the work, and no one wanted under an arrest warrant.
Investigators found the group had gone to work for six online gambling websites, earning an average of US$420 to US$540 (14,000 to 18,000 baht) a month. They had rented rooms next to the Saint Vegas casino in Vientiane, and some had been there only a month before the Lao crackdown.
Laos held the group for working without permission and for gambling-related work in the country. Once the Lao legal process was complete, officials there arranged with Thailand to send all 130 back, where they will be dealt with under Thai law.
In another operation, earlier in July, Laos handed 24 Thai nationals to Thai officials at the Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in Chiang Rai after officers linked them to alleged call centre scam operations. Checks by Thai officials found that two members of the group were wanted under existing arrest warrants.
The story Laos gambling crackdown sends 130 Thais back home as seen on Thaiger News.