Special Series: Human Trafficking
“Min,” as he would like to be known, was sold onto a Thai fishing boat after leaving impoverished Burma in search of a better life. After paying a broker $200 to smuggle him to a job in neighboring Thailand, he was told upon arrival that the fee did not cover the trip’s full cost, and was forced to toil day and night to pay off the “debt.” Min endured beatings for working too slow — often by Burmese overseers – and saw shipmates slammed with wooden planks until they could no longer walk. Activists and victims describe Min’s story as commonplace in Thailand’s fishing industry, of which the U.S. is a major customer.
