SOUTH AFRICANS TRAFFICKED TO MYANMAR SEEK RESCUE

SOUTH African trafficking victims in Myanmar have sent urgent messages to the human rights organisation Brave to Love, reporting that they have been gun-pointed, arrested, and forced to pay a ransom.

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

The organisation is now urging the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) to expedite the repatriation of approximately 40 South Africans, including some from Cape Town.

Brave to Love reports that the victims were trafficked to Southeast Asia, lured by false job promises in Thailand, but were instead forced into Myanmar's notorious KK Park scamming compound.

Out of the group, four managed to isolate themselves from the others and gathered to pray at the compound gate, while another was held hostage by corrupt military officials, who requested a ransom and released them. They were transferred into the care of Myanmar police and immigration authorities.

The Cape Argus received the desperate voice notes from some of the men, which they had managed to send to Emma van der Walt, the founder of Brave to Love.