Two hundred Thai workers lured into unpaid work in Jordan are being sent back home with help from the Thai foreign ministry, according to a report by Bangkok Post.
Itthi Ditthabanjong, of consular affairs, told the paper that 220 workers would return home by March 29. Staff would try to help the more than 400 others still stranded in Jordan. The first batch of 23 workers returned on Thursday, he was quoted as saying.
Many were demanding job brokers return land title deeds they lodged as security. Others want refunds of the 150,000-200,000 baht paid as fees. Two job placement firms, Nongkhai T.K. Enterprise (1985) and Srinakhon Group, have had their licenses revoked. Thai job brokers in Jordan and the Northeast led by Kraiphet, alias Traithep or Sam, Thumphol are on the run, said the report.
Narin Chaopracha, a worker who returned with the help of the Thai embassy in Iraq, told the daily that a job broker had convinced him and 200 others to pay the Srinakhon Group. The group left for Jordan on Jan 1 without strict immigration clearance and had to wait at a hotel for 10 days before Traithep took them to work at a farm.
He promised to transfer wages to their bank accounts in Thailand, but did not. Finally they were left with nothing to eat but fish they caught from nearby streams, according to the report – Albawaba.com
