It sounded like the dream job offer. Work for 8-10 hours as a digital sales executive from a plush call centre in Bangkok, earning almost Rs 1 lakh per month, and have access to a villa with a swimming pool.
Mir Sajjad Ali (23), a resident of Kattal Guda in the heart of Hyderabad, took the bait. A fortnight after landing in Bangkok last November, he ended up at a dingy and overcrowded house from where a cybercrime den operated on the Thailand-Myanmar border.
“On January 16, he made a distress call asking to be rescued. He was confined with several others at a call centre that was scamming people, and when he and others refused, they were beaten and abused,” Sayed Ali, his relative who received the call, told The Indian Express.
The plight of Mir and other Hyderabad youths came to light after MP Asaduddin Owaisi posted about their situation. “I have received a distressing message: at least 16 Indian nationals, including three from Hyderabad, were promised jobs in Thailand but taken to the Myanmar-Thailand border and enslaved. They are forced to work 18-20 hours daily, physically punished, and deprived of passports, phones, and medical facilities,” he wrote, urging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene.
“Mir told me that when the recruiter made a video call, he showed a beautiful villa with a swimming pool and several amenities. He was told this was the workplace and encouraged to travel as quickly as possible to Bangkok or someone else would take the job,” Mehdi Ali, Mir’s cousin, said.
Mir’s father works in Kuwait City while his mother lives in Hyderabad. “Mir did not inform his parents about the job offer. He simply said he was going on a holiday. He called his mother after landing in Bangkok and informed her that he would work from there. Although his mother tried to persuade him to return, he refused. For about eight days, Mir made video calls to show his workplace, which was good. He said that his employer was treating him well. Then, there was no call for nearly 15 days,” Mehdi Ali said.
“When he eventually did make contact, it was a hurried and scared phone call to inform that he was confined somewhere near the Thailand-Myanmar border, based on the location his phone showed. Then there was no call again for several days. A few days ago, he called to say his phone had been taken away for a while. He told his mother and another relative about the ordeal that he and two other youths from Hyderabad were facing. He said that several Indian youths were trapped in a similar situation, and asked to be rescued,” Mehdi Ali said.
Story continues below this ad
A college dropout, Mir, who did several online courses, was struggling to find a well-paying job, though he was doing part-time gigs online. Two other youths from Hyderabad have been identified as Sameer Khan of Maula Ali and Arshad of Banjara Hills.
Sources said that several youths from various parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are caught up in the job racket. “Those who were rescued by Thai police and returned home said that they were manhandled, abused and threatened if they refused to do the work, which is basically cybercrime. They are given daily targets, and if they fail, their passports and phones are seized,” an Andhra Pradesh CID official said.
Last November, the Andhra Pradesh government, with the aid of the Government of India, rescued 370 persons, including 55 from Andhra Pradesh, from several call centres on the Thailand-Myanmar border. They were repatriated in three flights.
CID Director General Dr A Ravi Shankar said that the youths were forced into “cyber slavery”. “They were forced to commit online fraud from these dubious call centres. In the second week of January, 22 more Andhra Pradesh youths were rescued by the CID in coordination with the Centre and Thailand officials,” he said.
Sreenivas Janyala is a Deputy Associate Editor at The Indian Express, where he serves as one of the most authoritative voices on the socio-political and economic landscape of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. With a career spanning over two decades in mainstream journalism, he provides deep-dive analysis and frontline reporting on the intricate dynamics of South Indian governance.
Expertise and Experience
Regional Specialization: Based in Hyderabad, Sreenivas has spent more than 20 years documenting the evolution of the Telugu-speaking states. His reporting was foundational during the historic Telangana statehood movement and continues to track the post-bifurcation development of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Key Coverage Beats: His extensive portfolio covers a vast spectrum of critical issues:
High-Stakes Politics: Comprehensive tracking of regional powerhouses (BRS, TDP, YSRCP, and Congress), electoral shifts, and the political careers of figures like K. Chandrashekar Rao, Chandrababu Naidu, and Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Internal Security & Conflict: Authoritative reporting on Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), the decline of the Maoist movement in former hotbeds, and intelligence-led investigations into regional security modules.
Governance & Infrastructure: Detailed analysis of massive irrigation projects (like Kaleshwaram and Polavaram), capital city developments (Amaravati), and the implementation of state welfare schemes.
Crisis & Health Reporting: Led the publication's ground-level coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in South India and major industrial incidents, such as the Vizag gas leak.
Analytical Depth: Beyond daily news, Sreenivas is known for his "Explained" pieces that demystify complex regional disputes, such as river water sharing and judicial allocations between the sister states. ... Read More
