Moroccan Hostages Freed from Laos as Human Trafficking Concerns Spread in Southeast Asia

The three Moroccan hostages released and repatriated last Saturday at the Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca came from Laos and not Myanmar, a member of the Coordination of Families of Moroccans Detained in Myanmar told h24Info, specifying that a total of seven hostages were released and repatriated, and that "three others are still in Bangkok". "Pending the completion of the investigation conducted by the police in the Thai capital, who took their depositions, they are being housed by the NGO Exodus Road, which fights against human trafficking".

The same source indicates that "five other hostages who paid, more than a month ago, a ransom of 80,000 dirhams (8,000 dollars) demanded by the gang that holds them, have still not been released", revealing that in addition to Myanmar and Laos, Moroccans would be held hostage in Cambodia. "There is the father of a YouTuber who disappeared who contacted us. The latter had gone to Cambodia to film vlogs," explains this member of the coordination of the victims’ families.

The families of the victims deplore "the total absence of any assistance or intervention from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Thailand or the consular service there, whether to free the victims or after their release". Nearly 200 Moroccans are being held hostage and tortured in Myanmar by armed criminal gangs. According to the first elements of the investigation opened on May 15 by the public prosecutor’s office of the Court of Appeal of Casablanca and entrusted to the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ), these are criminal networks specialized in human trafficking who force their victims to work in e-commerce.