Thai and Cambodian officials have successfully rescued 60 Thai workers forced to work at an online gambling call center in Cambodia. The workers safely arrived back in Thailand and have been taken to a quarantine facility.
The 60 Thai workers who were victims of exploitation by their employers in Cambodia safely returned to Thailand at Ban Klong Luk border crossing in Sa Kaeo, with the Royal Thai Police Assistant Commissioner General Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn welcoming back the workers at the border post.
The assistant police chief said these workers have requested assistance from Thai agencies for their rescue and repatriation, while the police’s preliminary investigation shows these workers are victims of job scams advertised on social media.
According to the victims’ statement, they were told to cross the border on foot through a forest to a pickup point on the Cambodian side, where they were taken to a hotel. They were then handed off to a Chinese capitalist who forced them to work for a scam call center, fraudulent SMS senders, and illegal gambling sites.
The workers reported these jobs were not the kind promised in the postings. They were denied from returning to Thailand by their employers. They claimed they were forcibly detained, their belongings were taken away, and they were threatened with physical violence.
The repatriation of these workers was coordinated by Thai and Cambodian authorities after the workers successfully reached out to the Thai authority for help. Cambodian officials have retrieved these workers from their workplaces in Phnom Penh and Poipet, before transporting them back through the border.
The rescued workers are serving quarantine after arrival, in line with the present disease control measures. The police are set to conduct thorough interviews with all the workers, in order to pursue the prosecution of the people involved. (NNT)
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