Original subtitles

Slavery is thought to be a thing of the past,

but today, the buying and selling of men, women, and children...

...is still rampant across Asia.

Every day, an average of more than 5000 human beings...

...may be bought and sold as property around the world.

These modern-day slaves are forced to work as labourers, beggars, or as prostitutes.

Robbed of their freedom,

victims are often physically and sexually abused.

For years, criminals have preyed on the poor and the vulnerable,

building an underground industry...

...that has become known as human trafficking.

January 20th, 2009.

Law enforcement agents in Thailand received a report of forced labour...

...and illegal confinement involving an industrial fishing company.

The agents rush to the scene...

...and uncover a human trafficking ring in full operation.

The fishing boat labourers were bought and sold...

...by human trafficking agents, and locked up until needed.

A United Nations investigation revealed that in a single year,

anywhere between 2 to 12 million people are bought and sold worldwide...

...in the multi-billion dollar industry of human trafficking.

A crime usually perpetrated by international syndicates,

human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation,

harbouring, or receiving of people by means of threat or force...

...for the purposes of exploitation.

Victims are often stripped of their freedom...

...and subjected to physical abuse.

Law enforcement agencies call it modern-day slavery.

Asia is one of the world's primary sources of trafficked persons,

where innocent people are deceived by promises of honest employment.

As a buyer and seller of people,

Johnny's job was to round up villagers from neighbouring countries...

...and transport them across borders,

to be sold as labourers in factories or on fishing vessels in Thailand.

The ports and shipyards of Thailand...

...have become hotbeds of human trafficking activity,

where labourers are smuggled by the hundreds.

Some men are sold straight...

...to fishing vessels or processing facilities,

while others are taken inland.

The villagers are exploited at every step along the journey.

Human traffickers use deceit and coercion...

...to ensure that they get every dollar out of the villagers...

...before delivering them to their final destination.

Trapped in a foreign country, with no money and nowhere to go,

the villagers are now at the mercy of their employers.

But as modern-day slaves,

they are neither cared-for nor paid the salaries...

...they were initially promised.

The current status of human trafficking in the region...

...is really alarming and it's growing day by day.

A lot of the cases that we are handling,

we see that wages are not paid to migrant workers.

For three months, six months and even after two years.

So these are all components of forced labour,

which is growing each day.

And for me the agents, the recruitment agents...

...are human traffickers whom I refer to as a new Mafia...

...in this whole area of migration and human trafficking.

Once the labourers have been delivered to their new workplaces,

all their basic human rights and freedoms disappear.

All employers hold the passport of workers...

...and this puts them in a state of illegal confinement.

Victims of human trafficking have little understanding...

...of the tasks they are expected to perform.

As a result, physical violence is a regular occurrence.

But physical brutality and a lack of freedom...

...is often just the beginning of a series of horrors...

...that a modern-day slave must face at the hands of a human trafficker.

For young women who fall victim to human traffickers,

a life of sexual exploitation is waiting.

April 10th, 2011.

Thai police prepare to raid a karaoke bar...

...suspected of involvement in a human trafficking ring.

Undercover investigators believe that numerous underage women...

...are being forced into prostitution.

Police identify 48-year-old Umnuai Kwa Mearngpan,

the bar manager, as a primary suspect, along with her two male assistants.

They are suspected members of a cross-border criminal organization...

...that is bringing young women into Thailand from Cambodia and Laos.

To gather enough evidence against the group,

investigators realize they will first need to prove...

...that sex is being sold in the karaoke bar.

Several officers enter the establishment, posing as potential customers.

In total, 17 underage girls of Laotian descent...

...are found to be working in the bar.

Several girls testify to being deceived...

...and subsequently forced into prostitution.

Their passports had been taken from them,

making it impossible for them to return home.

Police also find a hand gun, and 9-millimetre bullets.

With more than enough evidence, the officers arrest the three suspects.

Criminals involved in the buying and selling of human beings...

...have found a huge market for young girls in the sex industry.

Targeting the lowest rungs of society,

these predators seek out poor and uneducated families...

...with attractive young daughters.

The human traffickers first approach the parents of the young women,

with job offers and cash upfront.

Her passport was confiscated...

...and she was told that she would not be allowed...

...to leave the premises,

until the debt to her employers was repaid.

With no regard for human life,

human traffickers have established a far-reaching network...

...that victimizes girls like Molly throughout Southeast Asia.

The buyers and sellers of these women consider them to be property.

True slaves sold into the sex industry.

The young women are sold like any other product,

with prices determined by the potential earnings of each girl.

A meeting is arranged between the human trafficking agent...

...and the brothel owner who is in need of young women.

Once these young women find themselves cut off...

from their families and friends, with no way out,

there is little they can do, but follow orders.

From men to young women,

law enforcement agents now revealed...

...that children are being targeted by criminal syndicates.

An entirely new form of human trafficking never seen before in Southeast Asia.

The illegal trafficking of people...

...is an industry valued at 39 billion US dollars globally.

For the career criminal,

it's a potential source of revenue that cannot be ignored.

Not even children are safe.

In recent years, a disturbing pattern has been uncovered by investigators.

On the 23rd of June, 2011,

two Cambodian nationals,

32-year-old Lumyord and his wife, 22-year-old Linda Yord,

are arrested and charged with human trafficking.

Both man and wife confessed to being a part of a syndicate...

...that had been operating for years,

ruining the lives of countless innocent children.

The investigation that eventually brought Mr and Mrs Yord down,

began with a reported suspicious behaviour...

...involving street beggars.

Investigators learn that the married couple had acquired...

...a 12-year-old blind boy from his parents in Cambodia.

The traffickers then smuggled him to Thailand,

where the helpless child was forced to beg in the streets of various markets.

Working with Thai police,

the agents began to build their case against the suspected human traffickers.

During a stake-out,

officers capture rare video surveillance footage...

...depicting exactly how these begging syndicates operate.

As they move from one market to another,

the blind child is forced to hide in a side car of a motorcycle...

...to avoid detection by authorities.

The video is the last piece of evidence needed to warrant an arrest.

Following the arrest of Mr and Mrs Yord,

police turned their attention to the handicapped child.

The boy's natural parents back in Cambodia...

...were deemed unfit to care for him by authorities.

Instead, the child was left in the custody of a local shelter.

For a young child who is taken from home and is exploited by human traffickers,

the trauma can be severe.

Thousands of children go missing every year in Southeast Asia,

never to be returned to their families again.

For those that survived, the scars can last a lifetime.

"Julie" was taken from her family in Cambodia...

...when she was just 5 years old.

An agent offered her mother several hundred US dollars...

...in exchange for the right to take her to Thailand.

Now, 10 years after being forced to beg in the streets,

the pain is still fresh in her mind.

Child begging syndicates...

...are among the most difficult of all human trafficking cases...

...for authorities to deal with.

Fuelled by the good will of humanity,

few people realize that giving money to child beggars...

...won't get them off the streets or lead them to have better lives.

Instead, begging can strengthen criminal organizations...

...that profit from the exploitation of innocent children.

Police and independent law enforcement agencies...

...have cracked down hard on human trafficking syndicates...

...across Southeast Asia in recent years.

Many have been arrested.

In Malaysia, authorities have begun to dismantle...

...cross-border illegal networks, one criminal at a time.

As a former broker in a human trafficking ring,

"Helmi" was caught selling men and women by police...

...and served five years behind bars.

With the growing cooperation of police agencies,

more and more human traffickers are being thrown behind bars.

In addition to human trafficking charges,

those arrested may be accused of a combination of crimes...

...ranging from syndicated criminality, forced labour, illegal confinement,

and kidnapping.

Steep prison terms are given to convicted human traffickers,

which vary from country to country.

Criminals operating in human trafficking rings...

...have demonstrated a brazen disregard for human life.

But justice has a way of awakening criminals...

...to the damage they've caused.

Not just to their victims,

but to themselves and to their own families.

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