U.S. puts sanctions on Myanmar warlord and militia linked to cyber scams

Saw Chit Thu’s ties to Myanmar’s army rulers, evidenced by an honorary title for “outstanding performance” conferred on him by junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing in November 2022, have helped him construct his place. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The United States imposed sanctions on Monday (May 5, 2025) on a Myanmar warlord, his two sons and the militia he leads for facilitating cyber scams, human trafficking and cross-border smuggling, the Treasury Department mentioned.

The Treasury mentioned the warlord, Saw Chit Thu, is a central determine in a community of illicit and extremely profitable cyberscam operations concentrating on Americans. Hundreds of 1000’s of individuals have been trafficked by felony gangs throughout Southeast Asia in recent times and pressured to work within the rip-off operations, in accordance to the United Nations.

The transfer puts monetary sanctions on Saw Chit Thu, the Karen National Army that he heads, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, the division mentioned in a press release, freezing any U.S. belongings they could maintain and typically barring Americans from doing enterprise with them.

Britain and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Saw Chit Thu.

Saw Chit Thu and his militia couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The Karen National Army is headquartered in Shwe Kokko, a so-called “Special Economic Zone” alongside the Thai-Myanmar border, the place the militia leases land and offers safety for compounds the place trafficked people are pressured into scamming strangers on-line, the assertion mentioned.

“Cyber scam operations, such as those run by the KNA, generate billions in revenue for criminal kingpins and their associates, while depriving victims of their hard-earned savings and sense of security,” mentioned Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender.

Saw Chit Thu’s ties to Myanmar’s army rulers, evidenced by an honorary title for “outstanding performance” conferred on him by junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing in November 2022, have helped him construct his place.

Washington has imposed a number of rounds of sanctions on Myanmar’s junta and its sources of revenue because the army toppled the elected authorities of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, igniting a spiraling civil struggle.

Monday’s (May 5, 2025) sanctions had been the primary Myanmar-related sanctions imposed since President Donald Trump took workplace in January.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network final week proposed banning Cambodian monetary agency Huione Group from the U.S. monetary system over its alleged position in laundering illicit funds from cyber heists and on-line scams.