A 21-year-old chef who secretly went to Myanmar four years ago is now trapped there. He recently reached out to his 43-year-old mother for help, demanding a ransom of RM45,000 and a flight ticket home. He warned that if the ransom was not paid, he risked being 'sold' by the 'company.' That was when his mother finally learned about her son’s current plight!
According to the mother, YK (pseudonym), she was previously told by her son's friend that her son, WY (pseudonym), was busy working as a chef, so for the past four years, she had neither contacted him nor suspected anything was wrong.
On Saturday, the victim recounted her experience at a press conference, accompanied by Malaysian Humanitarian Organization (MHO) Secretary-General Datuk Hisham, members Mohd Aiman and Wong Fook Hing, hoping the authorities can help arrange for her son’s reunion with the family before Chinese New Year.
It was only last Saturday (24th) when she suddenly received a call from her son in Myanmar, demanding about RM45,000 to RM50,000 in ransom to return home, that she realized her son had already been taken to Myanmar back in November 2022.
She revealed that she did not file a police report earlier because her son’s friends told her that being a chef was safe and that he was just busy. Her son had also sent her money during New Year, which lowered her guard.
"He told me he needed to compensate his boss RM25,000, but with the cost of returning home, it totaled about RM45,000; otherwise, he would be sold to another company."
She once considered taking out a bank loan but was dissuaded by relatives and friends, who suggested she seek help from MHO. She has since filed a police report in Semenyih on Friday (30th) and, as instructed, submitted her son’s photo and relevant details to the police.
Hisham said that the organization had pinpointed the young man’s exact location and would help arrange for his return to Malaysia.