A Japanese boy forced to engage in fraud in Myanmar has said that there were close to 10 Japanese people other than himself at a criminal group's base in the country, Thai military sources said Saturday.
Thai authorities took the 16-year-old boy into custody in Mae Sot, in northwestern Thailand, this month, and are looking into the details of the situation.
According to the Thai military and other sources, the boy traveled from Japan to Thailand last December after applying for a job he found on social media. He was taken to the base of a Chinese crime ring in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayin near the border with Thailand, and was forced to take part in scams targeting Japanese people.
The boy sought help earlier this month from his family, who contacted Japanese police. Thai authorities located him following a request from Japan, and he was handed over to the Thai side from Myanmar on Wednesday.
Last month, a 17-year-old Japanese high school student was placed under protection in Thailand after he was also forced to engage in scams in Myanmar, after being tricked by a 29-year-old man he came to know through an online game.
Sources said that the student and the recently found boy were at different bases, and that the student also said that close to 10 Japanese people were engaged in fraud at a base.
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