State rescues Kenyans duped into fake jobs in Myanmar
Mary Wambui | NATION AFRICA
What you need to know:
• The Foreign Ministry revealed that four others are still held at the Chinese factories where victims are smuggled upon arrival in Thailand.
• Those who couldn’t work at the cyber cafes were subjected to prostitution as they were perceived as “useless” to the factory managers.
• The Kenyan Embassy in Thailand said it is “overwhelmed” by distress calls of nationals duped into non-existent jobs.
Seven more Kenyans have been rescued from Myanmar and taken to Thailand ahead of their repatriation home, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed.
The seven whose names have not been shared (but their images have) are part of the victims of fake jobs being run by a cartel with links in Nairobi.
The ministry revealed that four others are still held at the Chinese factories where victims are smuggled upon arrival in Thailand.
Unsuspecting Kenyans are getting dissuaded to take teaching, sales and customer care jobs fake jobs before they are literally being sold into slavery in Myanmar and Laos to work in ‘factories‘ that in reality are committing cybercrimes, running brothels and aiding drug trafficking activities.
Rose Mwikali, one of the victims who has since returned to Kenya, was trafficked alongside five others who have been repatriated to the country said the work Kenyans are subjected to in those factories is tantamount to slavery.
Prostitution
Those who couldn’t work at the cyber cafes were subjected to prostitution as they were perceived as “useless” to the factory managers.
“They locked us up in a room for seven hours without communication and food after which they asked us if we wanted to die or continue with work and we of course chose to live,” she recalled what happened at some point when she and her fellow countrymen asked to return home.
About two weeks ago, the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand said it is “overwhelmed” by distress calls of nationals duped into non-existent jobs in the South East Asian region in a suspected cartel of human trafficking.
Last week, the government said it rescued citizens in danger in countries like Myanmar.
Other countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, where officials said they received distress calls from Kenyans stuck there.
The embassy said most of them are young women who end up engaging in illegal activities, including being smuggled into Myanmar for the ‘dirty’ jobs in a country now under the leadership of an isolated military junta.
“Tens of other Kenyans were arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, all of whom have been whisked across the border into Myanmar following the same pattern as the previous groups. The Embassy has now received distress calls from at least 30 Kenyans, and we are informed there are more than 50 in Myanmar and three in Laos,” the Embassy said in a statement.
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