The statement by the embassy paints a dire situation over a growing human trafficking network that has operated in Myanmar and Lao PDR in the guise of enticing Kenyans to take up jobs in the Asian nation.
The Kenya Embassy in Bangkok on Friday, August 16 raised alarm regarding Kenyans who are continuously being lured into fake job opportunities in Thailand, only to end up trafficked into Myanmar.
The statement by the embassy paints a dire situation over a growing human trafficking network that has operated in Myanmar and Lao PDR in the guise of enticing Kenyans to take up jobs in the Asian nation.
Many have been coerced into becoming part of the criminal enterprise themselves, with the Embassy strongly warning that extracting people from the scam factories inside Myanmar and Lao PDR is an extremely dangerous and risky business, given the ongoing civil war and risks associated with criminal networks operating in the region.
The Embassy is currently looking for 3 missing Kenyans who are in Myanmar, though it has rescued over 140 Kenyans as well as other Africans and repatriated them to their respective countries, an exercise it says began when the first cases of Kenyans trafficked to Myanmar and Lao PDR surfaced in 2022.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi appears before the National Assembly for proposed Supplementary Estimates 1 for the Financial Year 2024/25 on July 22, 2024. /MUSALIA MUDAVADI
“And despite many warnings to Kenyans through various media channels, Kenyans still stream to Myanmar, mainly through Thailand. Even more frustrating is the fact that some of the Kenyans working in the scam compounds in Myanmar have become trafficking agents, on behalf of the criminal cartels,” the statement read in part.
According to the embassy, the agents, some of whom are Kenyans receive a lot of money from their unsuspecting countrymen and women, obtaining as much as Ksh300,000 in exchange for a visa at the Thai Embassy in Nairobi and paying for an air ticket. However, in many such cases, the return portion of the air ticket is invalidated as soon as the victim arrives in Thailand, while the hotel reservation is deemed fake.Â
The embassy also got wind of a Thai tourist visa costing up to Ksh100,000, whereas a normal tourist visa issued at the Thai Embassy costs between Ksh8,000 to Ksh.10,000 depending on the type.
Additionally, most of the victims are duped with fake job adverts in Thailand, especially customer care, front office, cryptocurrency and teaching jobs, only to reach Thailand and find there are no such jobs.Â
“Some of the trafficked Kenyans have ended up as destitutes in Bangkok, sleeping in the streets and begging for food from strangers. The Embassy has ended up housing and feeding several Kenyans including children trafficked to Thailand on the promise of jobs,” the statement added.
Another form of human trafficking that is becoming lucrative and taking root, as revealed by the embassy, is trafficking for prostitution, with most of the young girls trafficked from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by fellow East Africans and they are auctioned online to the highest bidder using photos of the girls.
A recent case was highlighted of one Kenyan who died in her room in Bangkok, allegedly due to what the doctors described as a ‘blood clot’.
“The Embassy and Kenyans in Thailand were left with the burden of looking for resources to repatriate the remains back home for burial, while the traffickers are free in the streets enjoying their ill-gotten money.
“The Embassy wishes to renew its warning and advice to the Kenyan public to be extremely careful while applying for any jobs advertised in Thailand or neighbouring countries to avoid being sold into slavery,” added the statement.
The Embassy expressed its commitment to supporting Kenyans to secure legitimate employment opportunities in the region, further advising Kenyans to reach out to the Embassy whenever they come across job adverts in Thailand and Myanmar.
