Three Hong Kong residents are still waiting to be rescued from scam farms in Myanmar, the city’s government has said.
A dedicated task force under the Security Bureau pledged to “actively follow up” on the remaining three cases.
Since mid-2024, authorities have received a total of 28 reports linked to Hongkongers trafficked to Southeast Asia. Among them, 25 have returned to the city, the Security Bureau said last Friday.
Six Hong Kong residents – three men and three women, aged 29 to 44 – who had been held in Myanmar for five to seven months returned to Hong Kong last week following a joint rescue operation by the Thai government, Hong Kong authorities, and the Chinese embassy, the bureau said.
Five of them arrived in the city on Friday night. The remaining member of the group returned on Saturday night after spending one more day in Thailand to assist the local police’s investigation into the scam farms.
The six Hongkongers did not pay any ransom to scam farm operators, Secretary for Security Chris Tang, who left for Thailand on Thursday to coordinate the joint rescue operation, told reporters upon his return to Hong Kong on Friday evening.
A dedicated task force consisting of officers from the Hong Kong Police Force, the Security Bureau, and the Immigration Department went to Thailand earlier, the bureau said.
“Upon arrival in Bangkok, the members of the dedicated task force proceeded to the Mae Sot area, near the Thailand-Myanmar border, to participate in the joint rescue operation involving various parties,” the bureau said.
With the assistance of Thai authorities and personnel from the Chinese embassy and consulate general in Thailand, the dedicated task force escorted the six Hongkongers from Mae Sot to Bangkok on Friday afternoon, it added.
Andy Yu, a former pro-democracy district councillor who had been assisting families of Hongkongers trafficked to scam farms, said on Facebook on Friday that families of the six residents had sought assistance from him, including a family member who used the pseudonym Kelvin.
HKFP reported in January that Kelvin and other family members of scam farm victims called on the Hong Kong government to do more to rescue Hongkongers held in Myanmar.
