Yangon police have arrested a man and a woman, and are on the hunt for a second woman, for operating a sex trafficking ring out of a house in Htauk Kyant.
According to the Yangon Police Facebook page, the arrests were made after an unidentified woman who was a victim herself managed to escape and file a case at the Mingaladon Police Station.
The victim told authorities that on the morning of May 24, she reported for her first day of work at a garment factory. However, she was sent home before the end of the work day once her employers found out that she didn’t know how to sew. On her way back, she ran into Khine Sabei and Myint Mor, two women from her neighborhood. They offered her a similar job at another garment factory in Htauk Kyant, and even told her that she could take out as much of her salary as she wanted in advance. Thankful that she landed another job, the victim went with the women.
Things quickly turned bad afterwards as the victim was not brought to any garment factory. Instead, she was introduced to a man, Han Zaw Shin, who would bring her around to different hostels and force her to have sex with various men. As ‘payment,’ she received MMK1,000 a day.
Han Zaw Shin himself also raped the victim on two separate occasions.
When she wasn’t being forced to work, she had to stay at a house in Htauk Kyant along with several other girls who were also being forced to prostitute themselves. If any of them tried to run away, they would be beaten.
As luck would have it, on June 11, over two weeks since the whole nightmare began, the victim was on her way to another hostel when she ran into her mother on the street. After her daughter told her about everything that happened, the mother took her daughter back home with her. The pair then opened a case at the Mingaladon Police Station under Sections 24 and 32 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law.
Once the case was filed, authorities went to the house in Htauk Kyant to arrest the culprits, only to find that they had fled the city. After tracking them down to the town of Pakokku located in the Magwe Region, Yangon authorities got in contact with Pakokku police and set up a joint investigation. Pakokku police located and arrested Han Zaw Shin and Khine Sabei on June 22. Both corroborated the victim’s story, and will be prosecuted for sex trafficking.
Authorities are still trying to track down Myint Mor, who remains on the run.
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