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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Su Myat in Mae Sot

Beatings, torture and electric shocks: freed scam compound workers allege horrific abuse

Alleged victims of scam centres wait to cross the border to Thailand to be repatriated, in Kyauk Khet in Myawaddy in Myanmar's Kayin State on February 12, 2025.
Alleged victims of scam centres wait on the Myanmar border to cross into Thailand to be repatriated on 12 February. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

“The Chinese would shock me with electric probes almost daily. I endured this continuously for nine months,” claims Seye, a 27-year-old woman who is one of hundreds of alleged trafficking victims who streamed across the Thai-Myanmar border this month.

Seye was among 260 people, more than half of them Ethiopian, who were transferred across the border to Thailand this February by a rebel group. Several among the group agreed to be interviewed on the condition they use only their first name.

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