Thai soldiers save Chinese tourists from possible abduction in Tak
The two tourists, abandoned by a driver who promised to take them to Chiang Mai, were likely targeted by human traffickers
Members of the Naresuan Force thwarted a possible abduction of two Chinese tourists on Friday at the Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak’s Phop Phra district.
Wu Chanqing, 27, and Zhu Chao, 36, were spotted by patrolling officers of the regiment’s 421st Ratchamanu Task Force near the border in the early hours of Friday morning.
The tourists told officials they were waiting for someone to take them to Chiang Mai, but the individual had not shown up.
Suspecting they were victims of human trafficking, officials escorted the pair to Mae Sot police station to file a complaint.
The duo told police that they had landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Thursday and paid a transport agency 2,000 baht for travel to Chiang Mai. A Thai man picked them up in an SUV and later dropped them off in Tak province, instructing them to wait for another person.
Authorities believe the tourists were targeted by human traffickers and that gang members, likely planning to smuggle them across the border, fled into Myanmar upon spotting the soldiers. Mae Sot police arranged temporary accommodation for the tourists and contacted their families.
This is the second human trafficking case reported in Tak province this week. On Tuesday, Myanmar authorities located Chinese actor Xingxing (Wang Xing) in Shwe Koko, a town notorious for Chinese-run call-centre scams and transported him back to Bangkok.
Xingxing told Thai police that he had been kidnapped by a Chinese gang after being lured to Thailand via a WeChat invitation for a film shoot. The gang held him captive in Myanmar, forcing him to train in using chat apps to scam victims in China.
His disappearance gained widespread attention after his girlfriend sought help from agencies in Thailand and China.
