Lured Indian techies held hostage in Myanmar-Thailand border: Report

Over 300 Indian software engineers, along with few others nationals have been held hostage in Myanmar, and are forced to do cyber crimes, according to a report by Times of India.

They are held hostage in Myawwady in Myanmar, situated close to Thailand border - a region not under the control of Myanmar. They are being held hostage by an ethnic armed group, that controls the region, with some of the hostages describing them as 'Malaysian Chinese '.

The issue came out in the open when a few Tamilians who are stranded sent out an SOS message to the central and state governments, calling out for help. They claimed that they were made to work 15 hours a day, and were beaten up and were given electric shocks if unable to do so. It is also learnt that at least 60 from Tamil Nadu are held hostage there.

According to the report, a fisherman from Karaikalmedu in Puducherry, appealed to the district collector of Karaikal to rescue his son, who was one among the captives. According to the family, the said hostage was working in Dubai as a data entry operator. Earlier this year, he was given a 'promotion' and was asked to relocate to the company's Thailand office. Upon reaching Thailand, him along with few others were taken to Myanmar, illegally via road.

Another person from Tamil Nadu, Atul, said that he was asked to lure customers through social media by asking them to make various investments, according to a TNIE report.

He said that while some managed to flee to nearby Thailand, they have been unable to get back to India due to legal constraints. He added that while most of the hostages are well educated, they are unable to escape as they are required to pay their way out.

“We were asked to meet a certain target. How could we cheat people and make money? When the target isn’t met, our salary gets cut. They also have other rules, due to which we hardly get the pay we were promised," said Atul, claiming that while the techie tried to protest they are threatened.

The Indian embassy in Yangon had issued an advisory on July 5 cautioning against ‘unscrupulous elements offering jobs'.