The foreign affairs and labour ministries are trying to help repatriate at least six Thai workers who were lured into travelling to Japan for a work contract that didn't exist, forced to work illegally and then abandoned when they refused to comply.
The six workers have already been rescued by Thai consular officials from a city in Ibaraki Prefecture and are now awaiting repatriation, said Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin yesterday.
They are expected to return to Thailand early next month, he said.
Prior to their rescue, the wife of one of the workers had sought help via a Facebook page called Ban Dung Update, operated in Udon Thani's Ban Dung district, which prompted the local administrative and labour authorities to investigate her complaint, said the minister.
Wasana Suwankhram, 42, said her husband, Saksit Mankep, 43, was lured by an illegal job broker identified only as Ms Ruen into believing he would be able to make 50,000 to 100,000 baht a month in Japan if he agreed to pay her 150,000 baht for the job placement service, which he did.
He left for Japan on April 18 along with a number of other Thai workers, but when they arrived in Japan, they found the promised work contracts didn't exist, said the wife.
Upon learning about her husband's fate in Japan, she reported what happened to local police, who refused to receive her complaint based on the logic she was not the victim, she said.
According to Ms Wasana, her husband and the other workers were later "sold" to a Thai woman identified as Ms Kai, whose Japanese husband operates a restaurant.
The new employer forced the husband and other Thai workers to work without pay, said Ms Wasana.
A 29-year-old man who was among the six Thai workers said he and his wife paid Ms Ruen 300,000 baht for the fake work placement service before they travelled to Japan.
He said Ms Ruen appeared to be more like a member of a human trafficking gang who had sold him and other Thai workers to another woman named Ms Nok before they were resold to Ms Kai.
Ms Kai also asked his wife to work as a prostitute. He said at least 50 Thai people had fallen victim to this gang operated by Ms Ruen.
A 45-year-old woman from Udon Thani who asked to be referred to as Maem said she had also been lured by Ms Ruen into believing she would make 60,000 baht a month in Japan.
Ms Maem said she and two other Thai women took refuge in a cottage once in Japan.