A “kidnapping warning” rang in Thailand in Southeast Asia, where more than 30 million foreigners visit a year.
Residents of China and Hong Kong have recently been kidnapped by criminal groups in Thailand and then rescued from Myanmar.
Some of them have yet to be found and are being sought by their family members or authorities concerned. Some of them were found to have been kidnapped while using their jobs as bait. The Hong Kong government sent a task force on Wednesday to bring back 12 residents who were lured to Southeast Asian countries and forced to work illegally.
A special team of six, including the Hong Kong Security Service, Immigration and Police, will meet with members of the anti-trafficking committee supervised by the Thai prime minister’s office.
Michael Chuck Howip, the deputy security minister who leads the national team, explained that kidnapping takes place by ordering goods to be transported to Taiwan, Japan or elsewhere and then changing destinations at the last minute.
Vice Minister Chuck said most of the victims were kidnapped in a predetermined situation, saying they had contacted the perpetrator, such as receiving electronic tickets before departing.
Since the second quarter of last year, Hong Kong law enforcement has received 28 requests for help from residents believed to be trapped somewhere in the Southeast Asian country and unable to leave, with 16 people returning, the SCMP said. Some of the remaining 12 victims were safe.
“The victims are arranged to work in Thailand for a certain period of time through an intermediary in Hong Kong, and then go to Thailand and then go missing,” Vice Minister Chuck said.
According to one source, some of the “saved” victims were reluctant to return to Hong Kong because of promises that working for scammers would make money quickly.
The Hong Kong authorities also urged the Taiwanese authorities to be careful not to allow potential victims to travel to Southeast Asia. Hong Kong’s Sungdo Daily reported on Wednesday that two women missing from Thailand were transported to Myanmar by a mysterious man with a gun and returned home safely.
Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was kidnapped by a human trafficking organization in Thailand, also returned home on the 11th.
Wang Xing went to Bangkok, Thailand on the 3rd after receiving an offer to cast a drama, and was found in Myanmar on the 7th after losing contact near Miyawadi in southeastern Myanmar on the afternoon of the same day with a person posing as a production team.
Unlike when he left the country, he looked emaciated with his shaved head.
Wang Xing’s disappearance became widely known on the 5th when his girlfriend asked for help on social media Weibo.
After the news of Wang Xing’s rescue, model Yang Zi-chi’s family also said that Yang Zi-chi lost contact at the Thailand-Myanmar border on the 20th of last month, and that the circumstances were similar to those of Wang Xing.
Families of 174 other Myanmar missing people also appealed for their younger brothers, sons, husbands and fathers.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
