Over 100 Myanmar nationals were rescued this week after Thai authorities busted a human trafficking ring on the outskirts of Bangkok, Myanmar state media reported on 21 July.
Members of the Thai-based migrant rights organisation Aid Alliance Committee (AAC), Labour Rights Promotion Network-LRP were alerted on Tuesday about the ring after five victims managed to escape. That same evening, the AAC teamed up with the Thai Department of Special Investigation and went to a house in Mahachai — located approximately 45 kilometres southwest of Bangkok — where the victims were reportedly being held.
There, they found 81 men and 38 women totalling 119 Myanmar workers who had had their passports confiscated by the brokers and were being forced to stay in the locked house with no access to external communication, the report said.