On 2 September, Lao authorities handed over 34 Thai nationals to Thai authorities at the 1st Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge between Viantiane and Nong Khcai, marking the seventh batch of transfers stemming from the ST Vegas cybercrime case.
Those suspects trace back to a 18 July raid on a rental complex in Dongphosy village, Hadsayfong district, where authorities dismantled an online gambling and fraud operation run by ST Vegas Company Limited and detained 589 suspects.
Of those, 373 were Thai nationals.
As of now, Laos has handed over 366 Thai suspects from the case, with seven remaining in Lao custody, according to data shared by authorities.
A day earlier, Bokeo authorities carried out a similar handover, transferring 92 Thai nationals to Thai authorities at the 4th Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, Chiang Rai Province. The group included 54 individuals who had entered Laos illegally, and investigators implicated the suspects in telecom fraud schemes impersonating Thai law enforcement officers.
Authorities have also cracked down on other scam operations in recent weeks.
Oudomxay provincial security forces dismantled an online gambling ring across Houn and Pakbeng districts between 25 and 27 August, detaining 52 suspects across six nationalities, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Burmese, Turkish, and Lao nationals.
Days later, on 29 August, police raided four locations in Vientiane’s Sikhottabong and Xaysettha districts, detaining 30 suspects, most of them Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.
A Nationwide Crackdown
As of 3 September, Lao authorities have arrested more than 6,200 cybercrime and scam suspects nationwide since the start of 2026. June, July, and August each saw approximately 1,000 arrests, reflecting the intensifying pace of the crackdown.
The ST Vegas raid remains the largest single operation of the year.
Authorities are still questioning detainees to find out who’s running these networks, but so far no ringleaders have been named.
