SA KAEO: Police are interviewing three women rescued two weeks ago after being held for ransom in Cambodia, according to the Klong Luek police.
The women, identified only as Jenjira, Pornnapa and Sasinipa, had been lured to work in an online gambling business in Poipet opposite Klong Luek in Aranyaprathet district.
The Klong Luek police said the women were later detained by their Chinese employer who demanded a ransom of 10,000 baht for each of them. They then alerted their families back in Thailand.
The employer threatened to sell the women to a call centre gang in China if the families refused to pay.
The families contacted the Klong Luek police via a chat group on the social media app Line.
Pol Col Chanonpat Sirilert, chief of the Klong Luek police station, got in touch with the Thai-Cambodian border committee in Aranyaprathet district, which notified the Cambodian security agencies and asked them to locate the women.
The agencies raided the location where the women were being held and rescued them before handing them over to the Thai immigration office in Aranyaprathet.
According to the Klong Luek police, after they arrived back in Thailand, the women were put in quarantine for 14 days. Now that this has concluded, local police are questioning them to learn more about the gang.
On Monday, 60 Thais duped into working at an online casino operating out of Cambodia were escorted back to Aranyaprathet district. On hand to welcome them were senior police officers led by the assistant national police chief, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn.
Their return was secured through the coordinated efforts of the Thai and Cambodian police.
The 60 workers had fallen prey to false job advertisements. After arriving in Cambodia, they were forced to work in slave-like conditions. They claimed that if they refused, they were beaten up.
Their families were ordered to pay a hefty ransom by the online casino owner in return for the workers’ freedom, said Pol Lt Gen Surachate.