Many people in Nghe An reported being tricked into doing forced labor in the Central Highlands.

Many workers were cheated

Vi Van Tri's family is a poor household in Xop Pu village (Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong). His mother passed away nearly a year ago, his father is too old to work. Tri is the main breadwinner in the family, having to do many jobs to make a living.

One day at the end of March, his sister Vi Thi Ban heard from a person named Ngoc from Do Luong that during this time, going to Binh Phuoc to pick cashew nuts every day could earn several hundred thousand. Receiving information from his sister, thinking that it was a large sum of money if he worked hard, Tri was very happy and agreed to go to work for hire.

Vi Van Tri's family is a poor household in Xop Pu village (Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong). Photo: Dao Tho

When he left, Tri brought one million dong for spending. When he arrived at Cua Rao village, Tri was given an advance of 500 thousand dong for his work and the transportation fee was also covered by a person named Ngoc. However, things were not as he expected, the bus took Tri and everyone straight to the Central Highlands.

Mr. Tri said that here, the group of workers were taken by a boss named Duy straight to the pine logging area. They were forced to do hard labor 12 hours a day in harsh conditions, some of them were not strong enough and were even brutally beaten. Each meal the boss only gave them white rice cooked from moldy rice with pickles.

Vi Van Tri recounts the days of torture. Photo: Dao Tho

As soon as he arrived at work and finished his meal, the boss had his men collect all of his personal belongings, identification documents, money, and phones. Vi Van Tri reacted and said that he had borrowed the money from his hometown.

However, without waiting for him to explain much, the boss had people beat Tri savagely. “I wanted to fight back, but they said the more I resisted, the more I would be beaten. They also had people surround me so I couldn’t escape. No one else dared to intervene. The next day after work, I was so tired that I asked the boss for a cigarette, but he didn’t give it to me and continued to order people to beat me. My shirt was covered in blood. We had to get their permission to go to the bathroom and had to be supervised,” Vi Van Tri said indignantly.

According to Tri, during the few days he worked there, he was beaten 3 times, each time very brutally. In the same commune as Tri was Cut Van Lieng, who had gone a few months before him. This person was also beaten and hospitalized 3 times and has now escaped.

“When I got home, I was so happy that I felt like I had come back to life. I slept for three days straight and still had no strength left. Although almost a week has passed, I still have pain in my head, chest and stomach due to being beaten so much. I hope the authorities can bring the person who tricked people like me to justice,” Tri said.

Escape in the deep forest

Unable to bear the exploitation and beatings, many people risked their lives to escape from their workplace without a penny in their pockets.

Vi Van Tri continued: after a week of working, knowing they were being tricked, many people tried to escape. That day, around 7am, Tri and 2 people from Lan village (Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son) were exploiting wood in the forest with knives when they came up with the idea of ​​escaping. They followed the forest path, holding knives and running without daring to rest. In their heads, the thought appeared that if they were caught, they would fight back to the end.

After a day of running, the three of them reached the main road. There, they threw away their knives and luckily met a man from Nghe An. This man helped the three brothers with the fare to go home.

Also a victim of the scam to go to Binh Phuoc to pick up cashew nuts and now escaped, Ms. Vi Thi Ngo (born 1978) in Xop Mat village (Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong) recounted: Going there, they could not eat well, the work was hard, so she and 4 people in Lan village (Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son) crossed the forest hoping to escape "hell on earth".

Ms. Vi Thi Ngo recounts life in the "hell on earth" area. Photo: Dao Tho

“At work, girls are rarely beaten, but boys are beaten regularly. Dozens of shacks hold nearly a hundred people, but no one dares to resist, just waiting for the opportunity to escape. When we escaped, we knew that if we were caught, we would die, but we had to take the risk,” said Vi Thi Ngo.

According to our research, currently in Luong Minh commune there are about 12 people who were tricked into forced labor, and only Ms. Vi Thi Ngo (born 1978) in Xop Mat village has escaped and returned. In Yen Na commune, there are 2 people who escaped with injuries all over their bodies: Vi Van Tri (born 1996) and Cut Van Lieng.In Ky Son district, Mr. Luong Van Tuan, head of Lan village (Chieu Luu commune) confirmed that in early April, 12 people in the village were tricked into going to Kon Tum to work, of which 6 people escaped and returned home a week ago.

Currently, these victims have filed a complaint with the authorities to denounce the tricks of the scammers who exploited their labor.

Victims' reports. Photo: Dao Tho.

Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc - Chairman of the People's Committee of Luong Minh Commune said: "Through the reports of the people, we have just grasped this problem. The most difficult thing is that when we went, no one came to report or do paperwork with the commune government. Therefore, when the incident happened, we could only encourage them to file a petition to the higher authorities to resolve it. In the immediate future, to avoid similar incidents from happening, the commune government will coordinate with the villages to propagate and mobilize people to be wary of tricks to entice people to do high-paying, non-hard labor."

Xop Mat village (Luong Minh commune) where many workers were tricked into Kon Tum. Photo: Dao Tho

The list of 8 people who escaped back to their hometown includes:

1. Vi Thi Ngo - Xop Mat village, Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong).

2. Vi Van Tri - Xop Pu village, Yen Na commune (Tuong Duong).

3. Ngan Van Anh - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

4. Luong Van Dan - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

5. Luong Van Ta - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

6. Vi Van Na - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

7. Vi Thi Thuy - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

8. Lo Van Duc - Lan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son).

9. Van Lieng Cut - Yen Na Commune (Tuong Duong)

Dao Tho