SEPANG: Five Malaysian citizens who fell victim to human trafficking for a Laos-based company's "scam" safely returned home yesterday.
They arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA) at 10am, having flown on an Air Asia plane from Vientiane, Laos, to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The victims, K. Khirubhananthan, 25, said he and four others, K. Khirubhakaran, 25, T. Thinagaran, 35, Farhana Zainal Abdain, 26, and Muhammad Amirrul Nor Azman, 26, were initially offered jobs as online customer service officers in Laos by two people known as Andy and Sam.
He said the duo offered them a monthly salary of RM6,000 and would provide accommodation if they worked for a private company in Laos.
"After arriving in Laos, they took us to a place and forced us to work for two weeks as online customer service officers. Then we were transferred to a house before being sold to citizens of China and Taiwan.
"We were confined in that house, and at the same time, those of us of Indian descent were forced to eat beef, while our Malay friends were forced to eat pork once a day," he said when met at the KLIA 2 arrival hall here.
Khirubhananthan said the syndicate also threatened to break their legs if they did not do the work.
"The syndicate also seized our mobile phones and passports, causing us to lose contact and unable to move anywhere. Then we had to seek help from the Laotian people by borrowing a mobile phone to contact those who could help us escape from the syndicate.
"We managed to contact Terumtum state assemblyman, Sim Chon Siang, and his staff to come to our rescue here," he said yesterday.
He advised the public to be more cautious if offered jobs with lucrative salaries, especially online, to avoid falling victim to fraud or human trafficking.