Lao authorities have rescued more than 1,680 victims of human trafficking from the Chinese-run Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone between its establishment in 2007 and the end of August this year, Radio Free Asia has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victims included Lao workers and foreign nationals from more than 20 different countries, a member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Bokeo province who, like other sources in this report, requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA Lao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in northern Laos is a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese citizens situated in Bokeo province along the Mekong River where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. It has become a haven for criminal activities including prostitution, scamming and drug trafficking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SEZ is home to the Kings Romans Casino resort, where many impoverished young Laotians from other provinces and foreigners who were promised lucrative jobs end up held against their will by trafficking rings that exploit them under threat of violence. In 2018, the U.S. government sanctioned the Chinese tycoon who is said to run the SEZ as head of a trafficking network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the workers who have been rescued from the SEZ had been confined in buildings or in their rooms against their will and deprived of their freedom and other basic rights, the member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the human trafficking victims in the Golden Triangle SEZ are foreigners whose embassies requested that Lao authorities rescue them, said a provincial police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce rescued, a great number of them are transferred to an immigration center in the capital Vientiane and the rest to an immigration center in Luang Namtha province [bordering China],\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the victims came to the SEZ to work in the service sector as waiters, waitresses, bartenders, sex workers, and online scammers, known as chatterers, at a call center in the SEZ, said the provincial police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout half of them were lured to the SEZ, and the other half came here by choice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police refer female workers under the age of 18 to the provincial Lao Women\u2019s Union, a political party organization that provide physical and psychological health services and advice before sending them back to their Lao families or to their respective countries, said the member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Bokeo province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A counselor at the Lao Women\u2019s Union of Bokeo province pointed out that human trafficking is not only in the Golden Triangle SEZ, but everywhere in the greater region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany victims are trafficked to China, many others to Thailand,\u201d she said. \u201cThese victims are from poor and remote areas. They need money. They are uneducated and uninformed about the dangers of human trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dozens of arrests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking at an annual public security meeting in Vientiane last week, Kenchanh Phommachack, deputy director of the Police Department of the Lao Ministry of Public Security, said Lao police had charged 74 people with human trafficking in the Golden Triangle SEZ between Sept. 1 and Dec. 12 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost of the arrested human traffickers are Chinese, Indians, Malaysians and Pakistanis, and most of them are middlemen and small fish who provided shelters and means of transportation to the victims,\u201d the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit official in Bokeo province told RFA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs for the big fish like Chinese human trafficking ring leaders, they are uncatchable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that these gang leaders sometimes torture workers or even kidnap them for ransom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Kenchanh Phommachack, those charged included 16 foreigners among 27 arrested and detained suspects, he said, adding that police had also rescued 21 human-trafficking victims, including 14 foreign nationals, over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A former online scammer who fled the SEZ last year told RFA that many of the workers in the SEZ\u2019s call center are Lao, Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir job is to scam other people, lie to them, and convince them to invest in the SEZ,\u201d the person said. \u201cOnce they do, they lose all their money for good. They will never get it back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany Laotians still work there because they don\u2019t have any other job or any other choice. There aren\u2019t many jobs available in Laos,\u201d the former scammer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Radio Free Asia –Copyright \u00a9 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE\/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"