KOTA KINABALU, Oct 25 — A 29-year-old Sabahan is believed to fallen victim to a human trafficking syndicate luring people to Thailand with offers of a one-week all-expenses-paid job.

Family members of Mohd Addie Azrinn Abdul Rahman are appealing to the authorities to help bring him back from Myanmar, where he is allegedly being held for ransom.

"He has been calling me, over and over, crying and begging me to send money so that they’ll let him go. He said that they will sell him to other syndicates or to organ harvesting syndicates if he cannot come up with enough funds before the 30th,” said his father, Abdul Rahman Hamid.

The retiree said that the last contact he had with his son was just before 9pm last night when his son had left a message for him.

Mohd Addie was a freelance dispatcher who was offered a job to do with gold trading by a friend’s connection in Thailand. He was to fly to Bangkok for a week and accompany his friend’s girlfriend to make a transaction.

He left Kota Kinabalu on October 17 for Penang before flying to Bangkok. There, he met up with his friend’s girlfriend – a Chinese national – where they were picked up by a vehicle.

Instead of going to their destination, they ended up switching vehicles and told they were going to Chiang Mai. Mohd Addie then became unreachable for a few days.

"When he resurfaced a few days later, he told us he was scammed and there was no job for him. His captors were demanding US$30,000 from him to free him,” said Abdul Rahman at a press conference organised by the Malaysia International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) Sabah branch.

MHO Sabah chief operations officer Captain Jerry Jaimeh advised the family not to respond to the demands for money because past experience showed that there was no guarantee they would be freed once the money was paid.

"We also learnt that his companion had paid up to RM500,000 but was still not released. In fact they continued to ask for more money,” he said.

Addie’s phone was traced to a Myanmar border town notorious for crime syndicates and authorities were unable to offer assistance.

Abdul Rahman said that the family was distraught at the thought of losing Addie, and hoped that the state government and the Prime Minister’s Department would help in government-to-government relations.

Jerry said that out of some 2,000 similar missing persons report filed, around 300 were successfully brought back and among those, around 50 are Sabahans.

"We feel like such syndicates are targeting Sabah and Sarawak now due to the lack of awareness and difficulties in finding jobs here. Being unexposed to such issues also leaves them more vulnerable to exploitation,” he said.