Thai man found tortured to death in Poipet building tied to trafficking network
A Thai man from Samut Prakan was found dead in a Poipet office used by cross-border trafficking gangs, with witnesses alleging he was brutally beaten and electrocuted before his death.
- A Thai man named Sarawut was found tortured to death in a building in Poipet, Cambodia, after being beaten with a metal object and electrocuted.
- The murder is linked to a trafficking and forced-labor network where Thai assailants, allegedly on the orders of a Chinese financier, exploit and assault other Thai nationals.
- The victim was discovered in the same building where another Thai national, a woman named Suda, was recently killed, highlighting a pattern of deadly abuse by the criminal syndicate.
- An escaped friend of the victim reported the crime, fearing the network planned to secretly bury the body to conceal the murder.
A Thai man, identified as Sarawut, known as “Toto”, from Samut Prakan, was found dead inside a building on the Poipet side of the Thai–Cambodian border, according to reports on Tuesday (18 November).
His body was discovered on the sixth floor of Building B, office number 218, the same location where a Thai woman from Phang-nga, Suda, had earlier been found dead.
Field sources said the site lies in an area that Thai authorities cannot yet access or pinpoint with certainty.
Testimonies from survivors and witnesses consistently indicate that Sarawut was “brutally assaulted”, beaten with a metal-like object and electrocuted, leading to his death inside the building.
Additional reports allege that the order to kill came from a Chinese financier, while the assailants were Thai members of a trafficking and forced-labour network, highlighting a grim pattern of Thai victims being exploited by fellow Thais within Poipet’s illegal operations.
Fears of a secret burial in Phnom Penh
A senior friend of the deceased, who managed to escape the network and is now in a safe location, contacted the Immanuel Foundation (IMF) Centre to request urgent assistance in repatriating Sarawut’s body to Thailand. The friend claimed there were signs the group planned to “bury him quietly” to conceal the crime.
This case has sent shockwaves through Thai families with missing relatives, many of whom are believed to have been lured into grey-zone networks in Cambodia. Numerous victims remain unreported, and many cases are never investigated to completion.
In the Case of Suda, a 26-year-old Thai woman who died at a Poipet scam site, was found in Phnom Penh just before cremation at a temple.
On November 14, 2025, reporters provided updates after relatives filed a missing-person report with Khok Kloi Police Station in Takua Thung district, Phang Nga province, stating that Suda, who had gone to work for an online scam operation in Poipet, Cambodia, had died as a result of punishment.
On November 13, the IMF traced and located Suda’s body at a temple in Phnom Penh, where it was already being prepared for cremation. Her remains have now been placed under the care of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh, pending procedures to repatriate her body to Thailand. Her family now has hope that they will be able to conduct proper religious rites for her.
IMF, which posted the case update, wrote:
“(We’ve located her body now.) They had taken her to a temple in Phnom Penh to cremate her. If I hadn’t intervened, she would have been cremated for nothing. Her body is now under the care of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh. We are waiting for the embassy’s procedures to return her home to her birthplace.”
The post also stated:
“According to sources, she died because she failed to meet her work quota and was punished by being forced to do 1,000–2,000 squats until she lost consciousness. They then used high-voltage electric shocks to make her regain consciousness, but she never woke up and eventually died.”
As for her husband, with whom she has a child, his fate is still unknown. Earlier coordinates shared by the centre indicated violence occurring there, including beatings, electric shocks, punching, and swelling around the eyes, inflicted on many Thai victims.
The incidents serve as another stark reminder of the violence and inhumanity of Cambodia-based criminal syndicates, which continue to claim Thai lives despite joint efforts to suppress the networks. These groups remain deeply entrenched and operate with ruthless methods.
There is growing public pressure on Thai authorities to dismantle the influence networks, verify the exact coordinates of the building, and protect Thais still trapped in these operations, to prevent further loss of life.
