Desperate search: Loved ones cross borders to find missing Chinese woman
Concerned family members and friends of the Chinese woman who went missing last week on the Thai-Myanmar border arrived in Thailand to try and find her. Two videos featuring Chong Sumyee, also known as Angie, have emerged, providing information about her whereabouts.
The mother, brother, and friends of Angie arrived in Chiang Mai province yesterday, June 6. Angie’s mother, 51 year old Caiyun, revealed to Thai police that she and others were worried about her. Today, they plan to travel to the Mae Sai district in the Chiang Rai province, the location where Angie was last seen.
According to Caiyun, Angie was employed by a cosmetic company in Malaysia. She received an invitation via a Facebook page to explore cosmetic products in Myanmar. Intrigued by the offer, Angie journeyed to Myanmar to evaluate the products for potential importation and distribution in Malaysia.
Caiyun added that she believes her daughter was deceived by a kidnapping gang and wanted the Thai authorities to rescue her daughter.
The Superintendent of Mae Sai Police Station, Piphat Naradate, reported the ongoing investigation to ThaiRath. He disclosed that Angie travelled out of a hotel with another woman and illegally crossed the Mae Sai River to enter Myanmar on the morning of Tuesday, May 30.
Since then, Angie changed her SIM card with a service provided in Myanmar, so her family could not contact her.
Yesterday, officers received two videos of Angie. The first video was 22 seconds long, and the second video was three minutes long. In the first video, Angie said in Chinese…
“I am working. I am safe. Please do not arrest the motorcycle rider (The woman who picked her up from the hotel). She did not do anything wrong,”
The second video depicted Angie actively working in an e-cigarette shop in the Tachileik province of Myanmar. The police confirmed Angie’s well-being in the footage. The officers also discovered that the place in the background of the video was the Golden Gate Hotel near an airport in Tachileik.
Superintendent Piphat revealed that the police can help Angie but she will be prosecuted for illegally travelling out of Thailand and illegally entering Myanmar.
UPDATE: Missing Chinese woman caught on CCTV travelling to Myanmar
After reviewing CCTV footage, police believe that the missing Chinese woman in Chiang Rai province, located in northern Thailand, made her way across the border into Myanmar in search of employment at a casino.
The young woman, 22 year old Chong Sumyee, who also goes by the name Angie, arrived in Chiang Mai on May 29. She informed her mother and family of her plans to travel to the northern province of Thailand. Unfortunately, communication was lost with Angie on June 1, prompting her mother to turn to social media to locate her daughter.
After an investigation led by Thai authorities, it was discovered that Angie was captured on CCTV footage checking into a hotel in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province, near Chiang Mai, on May 29. The hotel was near the Mae Sai-Tachileik border checkpoint, a transit point between Thailand and Myanmar.
On May 30, the hotel’s security camera revealed Angie waiting in the lobby for someone’s arrival. Shortly thereafter, a woman dressed in white approached her, engaging in conversation as if they were familiar with one another. Subsequently, the pair left the hotel on a motorcycle, heading towards the Ruak River, a natural boundary that separates Thailand and Myanmar. This particular spot is notorious for being an illegal route for border crossing.
Authorities tracked down the woman in the white dress and subjected her to questioning. She disclosed that Angie had hired her for 500 baht to transport her to the Ruak River. However, she maintained that she was unaware of whether Angie successfully crossed the border or not.
Thai police persist in their belief that Angie managed to enter Myanmar to secure employment at a casino within its borders. The investigation into the case continues, with Thai and Burmese authorities collaborating closely in an attempt to locate Angie.
ORIGINAL STORY: Chinese woman missing in Thailand feared trafficked to neighbouring country
Thai authorities are urgently searching for a missing Chinese woman, fearing she may have been trafficked across the border to a neighbouring country. The woman, Angie, arrived in Chiang Mai after flying from Kuala Lumpur on May 29 and was last seen in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai. Her family reportedly lost contact with her on June 1.
Angie’s mother is increasingly concerned as the region is known for its large casinos and incidents involving abduction, ransom, and murder cases.
In a joint effort, local police, immigration officers, and officials from the tourism police in northern Thailand have been working together to investigate Angie’s disappearance. Authorities have coordinated with local police and officials at the border to check CCTV footage to determine whether the missing woman crossed into Myanmar.
Angie’s family had no information on her whereabouts. Her family is deeply worried after losing contact for three days and fears she may have been abducted by Chinese grey-business operators for ransom or worse, murder. Previously, there have been cases of abduction and ransom involving Chinese nationals in the Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai.
There have been a number of incidents of Chinese women going missing in Thailand.
In April, a young Chinese woman was kidnapped and murdered by her ex-boyfriend and his friends in Thailand. The ex-boyfriend had reportedly tried to sleep with the victim, but she refused, and he killed her out of rage.
Also in April, Chinese nationals kidnapped and robbed a Chinese woman in Bangkok before fleeing Thailand. The suspects abducted a 28 year old Chinese woman in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district. Both men then tied up the victim with a rope and stole her iPhone 14, cash amounting to more than 427,000 baht, and other belongings. The next morning (April 18), the two perpetrators fled to Suvarnabhumi Airport intending to escape Thailand.
