Gov’t warns Kenyans against travelling to Myanmar amid slavery, torture, killings by cartels

The Kenyan Embassy in Thailand has reiterated its warning to citizens against applying for jobs in Myanmar after numerous reports of fake jobs advertised online.

The Embassy, in a statement released on Saturday, expressed concerns over continued applications despite its caution against travelling to the Asian nation over abductions, job slavery, and torture by criminal cartels.

According to the Embassy, some Kenyans have continued to disregard the warnings and 10 of them are currently trapped as their Chinese criminal cartel abductors seek millions compensation per person to release them.

The cartels claim ownership of the Kenyans since they allegedly bought them as slaves.

“The Kenya Embassy in Thailand for the umpteenth time is warning Kenyans against travelling to Myanmar. The warning comes as dozens of young Kenyans call out for help from Myanmar's notorious scam compounds, while others continue to stream in, and literally becoming slaves of Chinese criminal cartels,” read the statement.

“Upon being asked to free the Kenyans, the cartel bosses claim that they bought them as their slaves for 45,000 RMB (Ksh.820,420) per slave and if the government wants them to be released then their money amounting to around USD.12,000 (Ksh.1.5 million) should be refunded.”

It added: “It is however troubling to note that despite the many warnings in the print and electronic media, young Kenyans continue to travel to Myanmar after paying a colossal sum of money to recruitment agents for non-existent jobs in Thailand.”

While clarifying that there are no cryptocurrency and customer care jobs as purported in many advertisements, the Embassy pointed out that victims of trafficking and slavery are held at the border town of Maesot in Bangkok without much of a choice in selecting the place of work and are forced to be part of global cyber scamming rackets.

“Thailand is a transit country. Upon reaching Bangkok, the victims are picked up by waiting vehicles and driven for 9 hours to the border town of Maesot, where they cross the border through illegal routes,” stated the Embassy.

The victims are then moved to heavily guarded compounds where they undergo a vigorous 10-day training with strict targets which if they fail to meet, face notorious torture including electrocution, whipping, starvation, racial and mental abuse and threats of organ harvesting as they are forced to work for long hours.

“Victims are also confined to dark rooms for days without food or threatened with organ harvesting or mental abuse including being called monkeys. Several people have died from electrocution,” the Embassy added.

“The victims work for 19 hours with only 5 hours of rest, mostly spent in sleeping because the scamming happens at night. Lazy or sickly workers are sold off to other companies for as much as 50,000 Thai Baht or freed.”

The Embassy said it has obtained a list of another 45 Kenyans working in different scam compounds, several have escaped and others have been released after paying ransom.

However, it has also found that there exist dozens of other Kenyans who do not wish to be rescued and have actually become part of the cartel networks being used to traffic other Kenyans for a fee.

"One Kenyan was recently apprehended in Thailand for being one of the most notorious traffickers. As a result of the ongoing civil war, most of the scam compounds have come under the control of various insurgent groups, who offer protection to the scamming companies for a fee. The insurgents have also become extortionists and charge a fee to those who want to be smuggled out," read the statement.

The development follows similar warnings from the Foreign Affairs Ministry which has been warning citizens against seeking jobs in Myanmar.

In 2022, the ministry went after a number of agents for advertising sales and customer care jobs purported to be in Thailand, after reports of a Kenyan who died after a botched surgery in Myanmar.