The family of a 33-year-old Nigerian engineer, Obinna Okeadu, from Mbano in Imo State, has cried out for justice following his gruesome death in a job-scam centre operating from Myanmar, Thailand.
Speaking in Abuja at the weekend, a member of the family, Okechukwu Okeadu, said his younger brother was lured abroad by a company promising a factory job with an attractive salary.
Okeadu said unknown to his younger brother, the offer was a trap run by a human-trafficking ring that enslaves unsuspecting Africans in underground “job camps.”
According to the family, Obinna travelled to Myanmar in August this year after receiving an employment offer from the centre, which has operations in both Myanmar and Cambodia.
Upon arrival, his passport and other travel documents were seized by the operators, who reportedly issued “targets” each worker had to meet under harsh conditions.
The family said those who failed to meet their targets were subjected to severe punishment, sold to other centres, or had their organs harvested to “recover investment costs,” including airfare.
“He joined hundreds of young men in a shallow underground apartment where no one was allowed to make or receive calls,” Okeadu told journalists.
“We heard he was injected with a substance after complaining he was too weak to continue work that day. Hours later, he was dead.”
An inmate at the same facility reportedly sent a secret message to the Okeadu family, alleging that Obinna was beaten with hard objects before being injected by his supervisors. He claimed that other Nigerians are still being held in the same camp under inhuman conditions.
The family expressed fears that Obinna’s organs may have been harvested, as the operators are yet to release any official information about his death or return his remains.
“We want the Federal Government to intervene. We want to see our son’s body, dead or alive,” Okechukwu said. “He was tortured until urine was dripping from his body. This is wickedness of the highest order.”
The Okeadu family also appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy in Thailand to investigate the job-scam syndicate, which they claim continues to recruit young Nigerians through deceptive online advertisements.
They alleged that the same centre had previously operated in Nigeria before being shut down by authorities over fraudulent and abusive practices. The operators, however, reportedly relocated to Southeast Asia, where they resumed operations.
The family’s call adds to growing reports of Nigerians and other Africans trapped in job-scam syndicates across Asia, often forced into cyber-fraud, bonded labour, or organ trafficking.
