Two Vietnamese tricked to work in Cambodia rescued

Puih Phu, 16, and Puih Thai, 28, were taken back home in La Grai District of Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands on Sunday.

Early this year, they got in touch with Tran Quang Quyet, 21, a native of the region’s Kon Tum Province, on Facebook.

Quyet offered to help them get decent jobs with high salaries in Cambodia.

However, once they arrived in Cambodia, they were forced to do all the hard work while their employers frequently beat them with rods and power cables. They were also threatened to be sold away or killed.

Struggling to survive, Puih Thai asked to be sent home. The people who had tricked and sold him to Cambodia requested him to contact his family and pay bail of VND90 million ($3,854).

Through his family, border guards in Gia Lai launched a special operation to track down the human trafficking ring, rescuing both Thai and Phu.

Border guards have collaborated with police to expand the operation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last week that Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities have collaborated to repatriate 400 Vietnamese citizens who had been tricked and sold to Cambodia by human traffickers so far this year.

In most cases, trafficking rings advertised their services on social media, targeting people of working age but without stable jobs, promising a career with a monthly salary of up to thousands of dollars.

The victims were typically smuggled into Cambodia and sent to work at foreign-owned companies.

If refusing to work, the Vietnamese workers would be beaten and left to starve, according to police. In other cases, people smuggled to Cambodia included young women forced to work as prostitutes.

The victims told police anyone that wants to return to Vietnam must first contact their families and pay bail of around VND80-100 million.