Morocco issues first human trafficking sentence over Asia online scam

A Moroccan court on Tuesday sentenced a man to five years in prison and $107,300 in fines for human trafficking, in the country’s first ruling against someone accused of luring people to work in a scam compound in Asia.

The case involved several young Moroccans who said they were attracted by an online job offer promising good pay in Thailand. Instead, they found themselves trafficked to Myanmar and forced to work more than 9,300 miles (14,966 kilometres) from home, facilitating online fraud and scams.

The defendant, Nabil Moafik, denied the charges and called human trafficking a “crime against humanity” he would never commit.

The United Nations says some 120,000 people are trapped in so-called scam centres, and prosecutions have been launched around the world to combat trafficking. Several are making their way through Moroccan courts.

In Casablanca, victims present in court told The Associated Press they witnessed torture and other degrading treatment in the Myanmar centres. Some said they secured their release after paying ransoms in cryptocurrency, according to court documents provided by attorneys.

Prosecutors said Moafik ran a Facebook group helping Moroccan immigrants navigate life in Turkey. There, he posted an ad for call-centre work in Thailand. One person, Youssef Amzouz, responded. He was put in touch with another Moroccan who handled recruitment, interviewed and sent money to purchase a plane ticket to Malaysia.

A police report read out in court said Moafik introduced Amzouz to another Moroccan who later demanded that he either pay a ransom or recruit 100 others to secure his freedom.

Moafik told the judge that Amzouz called him after leaving the scam compound, saying he was receiving treatment in a hospital for injuries sustained from torture.

“I was just a job mediator. I was getting between $21 $107 for each person I recruited,” Moafik said. “I did not know that all of this would happen.”

The International Organisation for Migration, a U.N. body, has said middlemen can be unaware they’re participating in trafficking, making prosecuting such cross-border crimes difficult.

The state prosecutor argued that Moafik aimed to profit from trading in goods, calling him “an essential element in the crime of human trafficking.”

Local news outlet Hespress reported earlier this year that Morocco’s Foreign Ministry secured the release of 34 citizens trafficked to online scam centres in Myanmar. The ministry did not respond to AP’s emailed questions about the total number of Moroccans affected.