It was just after sunset on October 24 when residents of Mae Kut Sung Mai village, along Thailand's picturesque north-western border with Myanmar, heard an ungodly sound.

Just 500 metres from their homes, across the Moei River, the Myanmar military was bombing buildings in KK Park, one of the world's most notorious and secretive scam centres .

In the hours and days that followed, the bombings continued.

More than 1,500 foreign scam workers escaped to Thailand, most of them from India, China and the Philippines.

Bystanders shot phone footage of people clinging to foam boxes as they struggled to swim across the river. There were reports that some died trying.

It was the latest offensive by the Myanmar military against online scamming businesses operated by transnational syndicates wit

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