Dear East Africans, there are no jobs in Thailand – it’s a trapdoor into bondage in Myanmar
The Kenyan mission in Bangkok has had to respond to distress calls from citizens caught up in the intricate web of human trafficking in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia.
Over the years, as a diplomat, I have met many Kenyans and indeed East Africans who travel to Thailand for work and leisure. Their trips usually end well and contribute to a good people-to-people experience.
Recently, however, a dangerous trend has emerged in which our mission in Bangkok has had to respond to distress calls from Kenyans caught up in the intricate web of human trafficking in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. These Kenyans – and East Africans – usually mean well: They apply for jobs advertised online, pay the requisite fees ostensibly for document processing, visas and air tickets, and hop onto the plane. But the trips end in misery and sometimes tragedy.
Take the case of Jane. Her husband went on one of these trips in search of work and a better life for his family. But he became a victim of human trafficking. When I spoke to Jane recently, her voice was weak, traumatised by the thought of her husband in bondage, she seemed resigned to her fate.
“Since November last year, it has been pain after pain. I am still hoping we are going to be united soon. I have lost everything including my health,” Jane told me.
These are the crying words of a traumatised Kenyan woman whose husband was trafficked to Myanmar in November 2024, and who is hoping against hope that he will be returned to her in one piece.
Her husband is one of 45 Kenyans trapped in Myanmar after travelling to Thailand on false promises of work. Some went there expecting to be hired as teachers, translators or clerks. Bondage was the last thing on their minds. Now they can't get out, having fallen victim to an Asian mafia that runs the trafficking network and the scam cities.
Tired, looking weak and lying down, another victim recently sent a chilling video to a journalist telling her to tell his family to look after his children if he didn't make it.
These are horrific stories that we are becoming accustomed to, but they are painful. The problem of human trafficking from Kenya to Myanmar continues unabated, despite numerous warnings from the Kenyan Embassy in Bangkok and the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs. I therefore appeal directly to Kenyans to stop accepting these fake offers. They are a trap door to bondage. Please do your due diligence with the embassy or the State Department for Diaspora Affairs.
When we warned of the risks last year, some Kenyans continued to enter Myanmar through the Thai border town of Maesot, which has become the largest trafficking hub in the region. Once the victims arrive in Maesot from various directions, they are transported through illegal border crossings by a dedicated illegal logistics team using vehicles and trucks that travel between Thailand and Myanmar. Despite numerous police roadblocks along the way, most victims easily pass through as 'tourists'.
Once inside the scam factories, victims are trained in how to defraud unsuspecting people, especially Americans and Chinese, online. Those who fail to deliver four customers a day are subjected to inhumane treatment, including torture, electrocution, beatings, hanging, confinement in dark rooms and/or sold to third parties. Any attempt to escape can result in severe punishment, including death. Many foreigners who have attempted to escape have drowned while crossing rivers and others have been shot and suffered serious spinal and limb injuries.
Several of the 45 Kenyans being held in the scam compounds have been tortured in recent weeks, and their families are traumatised and appealing to the government for help in rescuing their loved ones and bringing them home safely. The families have also called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and other law enforcement agencies to arrest the many traffickers who continue to roam the streets of Nairobi and other cities while their victims languish in the scam compounds.
A dedicated team of officials from the Embassy in Bangkok and the State Department of Diaspora Affairs in Nairobi have been contacting various networks in Thailand and within Myanmar for assistance since November.
However, these efforts have not borne fruit due to the complex situation on the ground, which is affected by the raging conflict and the growth and expansion of notorious Chinese mafia gangs that control the various scam compounds. Efforts to enlist the support of the Myanmar government have failed because the scam factories are located in areas controlled by insurgents. The rebels, in turn, collect protection fees from the mafia bosses. So, technically, the rebel groups act as intermediaries between the families of the victims or government officials and the victims.
And in order for them to negotiate with the mafia for the release of any victim, they charge what they call a facilitation fee.
The situation for the Thai authorities is further complicated by the fact that the scam compounds are based in Myanmar, another sovereign country. It will take delicate negotiations to free the foreigners trapped in the scam compounds.
For now, the safest thing for Kenyans to do is to heed the government's warnings and stop applying for non-existent jobs in Thailand. They will only end up in Myanmar's scam factories and torture chambers in the name of jobs. This is the umpteenth warning from the Embassy. And we call on leaders from all walks of life to speak publicly about the problem of human trafficking and raise awareness of its impact.
As the problem often transcends our borders, we have been working with other diplomatic missions in Bangkok to raise awareness of the risks of human trafficking in Myanmar. On Friday last week, 17 embassies, including Kenya's, attended a meeting with Thai police headquarters to identify common strategies to enhance cooperation in the fight against human trafficking.
One problem that emerged was that trafficking is fuelled by corruption in the immigration and police departments.
We have information that some senior police and other government officials own casinos in the scam compounds, making it difficult to combat the problem. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise that can easily be cleaned up and made part of the mainstream economy in Southeast Asia.
The sad thing is that the fraudsters are likely to go free while the families of the victims cry out for help. So, better to be safe than sorry.
