A Hong Kong court sentenced beautician Poon Sum-yi to four years after she sold two friends to a Myanmar scam compound, where they endured confinement and ransom threats, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
District Court Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching said the fraud allegation failed to capture what she saw as the central conduct. She classified the case as human trafficking and said Hong Kong had no law specifically for that offense, SCMP reported. Tse said Poon had put the women in danger without regard for their welfare, calling her conduct “vicious and inhumane.” She said a substantial sentence was needed to deter similar conduct.
SCMP reported Poon sold the two women for US$54,000. Poon, 33, first discussed trips to Japan or Canada, then told them she had bought tickets to Thailand for Dec. 27, 2024. She said they would return the following night and promised them a fee for transporting 48 million baht.
After landing in Bangkok, the women accepted a car ride they thought would take them to their hotel. By morning, they realized its route headed toward Chiang Mai. At the Thai-Myanmar border, five men carrying knives and sticks took them across a river and seized their belongings. A second group of six gunmen in military dress placed them in a separate vehicle and said they were being sold to Myanmar, SCMP reported.
At KK Park, a man known as “Rabbit Chief” told them they could leave only after US$500,000 was raised, either through a ransom or by helping the group defraud wealthy Chinese people abroad. SCMP reported the women’s relatives paid to secure their release after they had been held for almost two weeks.
SCMP reported Tse said the women were deeply frightened once they understood they were prisoners and could not contact anyone. The judge said they realized they had no way to produce the demanded sum.
