Thai consul says sex traffickers tried to trick escapees back to Hong Kong brothel

Two Thai women who escaped from a Hong Kong brothel and hid at the airport for three days received calls from traffickers trying to lure them back, said the Thai consulate.

The pair had shown up at Chek Lap Kok on July 6 with their luggage and passports, but they did not have enough money to fly back to Thailand, said consul Khanthong Nuanual, who provided more details on the trafficking case to the South China Morning Post.

“They had return tickets to go back to Thailand,” Nuanual said on Monday. “But they didn’t have enough money to change the dates on the tickets.”

The consul also said the traffickers had attempted to track them via mobile Sim cards they had given the women.

“The two women were called several times, including once by a Chinese man who could speak fluent Thai, pretending to be from the consulate. He asked to meet them in Wan Chai at 8.30pm, but the two women were smart enough to know the consulate’s hours and know we don’t operate then,” said Nuanual, adding that the details of how they escaped were still unclear.

The two women, whose real names have not been revealed, are currently under police protection in Thailand. After their daring 5am escape, they hid at the airport for three days before calling a Thai non-profit organisation. They were taken to the Thai consulate in Hong Kong, where staff interviewed them and later bought them airline tickets back to Thailand. Police there are investigating the matter and preparing charges.