TikTok travel agency lures Thai woman into prostitution in Myanmar

The Pavena Foundation for Children and Women rescued three traumatised Thai women who suffered a mortifying experience after they were lured into prostitution in Myanmar. One of the victims was sold to a brothel after booking a holiday with a travel agency on TikTok.

The victims recounted their unfortunate fate in Myanmar during an interview with Channel 3 yesterday, November 13. The first victim reported that she found a travel package to Kentung town in the Shan state of Myanmar. The package was cheap costing only 8,000 baht for a three-day trip, so she decided to book it.

Unfortunately, it was not like she read in the brochure. Upon arrival in Myanmar, she was immediately taken to a pickup where a woman told her that her employer had bought her from the travel agency for 25,000 yuan (124,800 baht) and she had to sell sex at an entertainment venue called KTV in Mong Pawk City. The entertainment venue offers a casino, brothel, and nightclub to clients.

The woman said that she met a Chinese owner who made her sign an employment document which was written in Chinese and forced her to sell sex. Anyone who did not obey the owner would be tortured.

The woman went on to say that she met two other Thai women at KTV. The two reportedly travelled to Myanmar with friends, where one friend lured them into prostitution at KTV.

The woman said she contacted her mother to seek help for herself and other two Thai women. Her mother contacted the Foundation until Burmese police helped them escape.

Thai government assistance

The women stayed at some police accommodation at first before trying to contact the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon for a safe return to Thailand. Unfortunately, the embassy, which charges 60,000 baht per person to help people in that predicament, did not respond to their messages.

They tried to find their way out of Myanmar by hiring locals to take them to the Thai border. They paid about 10,000 baht each for the trip, which ended in a kidnapping-for-ransom scene.

The locals later revealed themselves as the employees of KTV. The Chinese owner ordered them to kill the women. They started torturing the women and demanded 5 million baht in exchange for their freedom.

The attackers showed videos of Chinese nationals having their tongues cut out and their throats slit after refusing to pay the demanded amount. They tortured the women until one of them pretended to be dead to stop the abuse.

Then, they managed to escape, fleeing into the forest until they met some Burmese police officers in Mong Hpayak town.

Burmese prison

The Burmese police did not believe their stories and put them in jail for entering the country without permission. The victims said they did not have any documents to prove their innocence at the time. They were jailed for four months until the court decided to send them back to Thailand.

The Paveena Foundation picked them up at Tachileik town at the border of Thailand and Myanmar and facilitated their return to their home provinces.

The founder of the foundation, Paveena Hongsakul, explained the difficulties in rescuing human trafficking victims. Myanmar is the most difficult country due to the political situation within the country.

According to Paveena, it was hard for its officers to access each area in Myanmar, especially Mong Pawk City. In each case, they spend months trying to rescue the victims. Paveena urged Thais planning to travel or work in Myanmar to be careful, as it would be difficult for Thai authorities to offer help if anything happened.