In Operation Isolation, 2 teenage boys and 3 teenage girls were removed from the isolation of trafficking in Thailand over the course of 10 days.
It might be twilight, thick and gray on the tail end of Thailand’s monsoon season. It might be dawn, a blurry watercolor sky of pink and orange. It might be midnight, the velvet dark spangled by street lights and stars.
But for five teenagers, isolated and alone in five separate rooms, they have no way of knowing.
The small rooms where they are forced to offer sex to strangers have no windows. These young hearts are removed from the world, barred from any hope of a normal teenage life, trapped between traffickers and the customers they sell to.
Outside, the rhythm of life beats on. Inside, time stands still.
Teenage boys Benz* and Chai* are being held in houses. Sarai,* Som,* and Manee,* all teenage girls, are trapped in hotel rooms. Their traffickers are glutting themselves on the profits of repeated sales. For the two boys, their infinite worth is reduced to just $45.
But The Exodus Road’s Alpha Team of operatives in Thailand is coming. COVID-19 limitations have kept the country closed, limiting the work of justice. Alpha has not been idle. They have spent the days of lockdown building strong bases for each of these five investigations. When the country reopens, Alpha immediately mobilizes. Within ten days, all five of these young survivors will be freed.
16-year-old Som and Manee are freed first, found in hotel rooms, waiting to be sold again. Just a couple of days later, Alpha partners with police to find Benz and Chai on the same day, raiding the houses where they’ve been exploited. Finally, law enforcement moves on Alpha’s evidence to find Sarai, taking her from the hotel room that has been host to repeated trauma.
Each of these youth is safely brought into government care, where they will be offered a path toward healing and restoration.
Two men and three women are arrested for trafficking them. They face court cases and the strong evidence Alpha has meticulously built against them.
Benz, Chai, Manee, Som, and Sarai have broken out of the narrow confinement of their captivity. Their windowless isolation has given way to unbound potential, giving them access again to the world’s sights and sounds and colors.
Your support is why Benz, Chai, and Sarai have this chance to be free. Thank you for being a part of bringing them out of the darkness of isolation into restorative light!
Donate to help our operatives investigate women and children being forced into sex work.
*Some details of the story have been changed for the safety and privacy of those involved in these operations. Images are representative.
