February 28, 2025
JOHOR BARU – Joyce Hwang Qi Hui has known Gan Jiea Jie for many years and has always recognised him as a person who occasionally finds himself in tricky situations.
Yet, the 18-year-old Gen Jiea Jie never anticipated that he would journey alone to Thailand and find himself kidnapped by a human trafficking syndicate, much less be involved in scamming individuals out of Myanmar.
“Somehow, whenever he gets into trouble, he calls me – his ‘big sister’ – asking for advice and guidance.
“I know he is from a broken family, and as a friend, I do my best to help, hoping that he will change one day,” Hwang said, adding that in the past, Gan even gave her number to loan sharks who were harassing him for money.
She said that initially, she did not believe that Gan was in Thailand until he sent her pictures of armed men guarding him at a house and explained the situation he was facing in Thailand and Myanmar.
“He sent me his location and it was somewhere along the Thai-Myanmar border,” she said, adding that was why when he called asking for help on Feb 18, she advised him to head straight to the Malaysian Embassy.
Hwang said that Gan, along with his manager, travelled approximately 500km within two days between the border site and the location in Bangkok.
She said Gan was concerned about his safety because syndicates would use social media to post bounties on escapees, along with their photographs and passport information.
“The syndicates also have a lot of spies working for them,” she said, adding that a driver he managed to contact only sent him to a nearby police station as he did not have enough money for the journey to the Malaysian Embassy.
Hwang said the driver refused her offer to transfer money to his account so Gan could be sent to the embassy.
She said that since then, she has been in constant contact with an official from the embassy who has been helpful. The official even visited Gan at a police station to verify his status.
Asked about his family, she said that Gan was estranged from his parents and she was finding ways to help raise money to bring him back.
Meanwhile, when contacted, a Wisma Putra official said that Gan was being screened under Thailand’s National Referral Mechanism to determine if he was an actual victim.
“Gan is also assisting the police, as they have brought him back to the hotel where he stayed with his manager, and he has been able to provide some leads in their case,” he said, adding that once he is cleared of any wrongdoing, the embassy will be able to provide consular services for his return to Malaysia.
The official stated that an individual would be responsible for covering the cost of the flight ticket or paying any fines levied by the Thai court.
He said that, in addition to Gan, at least 15 other Malaysians have been rescued from a job scam syndicate and are awaiting Thai authorities’ approval to be repatriated.