Are These Malaysian Kids Being Smuggled To 'Organ Farms' Across The Thai Border?
Not everything you see on the Internet is true.
By Tang Ruxyn — 29 Nov 2016, 07:20 PM
Recently, there have been rumours that children are being smuggled for their organs somewhere along the Malaysia-Thailand border
The story, shared on social media sites to warn parents to be careful, alleges that children are being kidnapped, then sold to human traffickers who harvest their organs for sale in the black market.
Several gruesome images depicting a girl trussed up in a cardboard box as well as an image showing a group of children being lined up like livestock were included in these postings.
Quite a number of Malaysian portals have picked up this particular story and featured it on their site, receiving thousands of shares and likes for the articles they published on the alleged news.
However, it is highly possible that this story, one that has been widely shared, was falsified and made-up
An example of a social media post about the alleged smuggling of Malaysian children in order to sell their organs.
Image via FacebookIt is believed that there are several 'versions' of the same story that are being circulated online.
In one version, it is said that children were being smuggled from Malaysia to Thailand but perpetrators were caught at Bukit Kayu Hitam border checkpoint when the Thai authorities found a van filled with hundreds of dead Malaysian children without organs in their bodies.
In another version of the story, children were purportedly sedated and stuffed into boxes. These children are then transported to Thailand where they would be killed for their organs.
Meanwhile, there were also claims that about 700 kids without internal organs were found in Thailand.
However, all of these could be mere fabrication even as the posts were accompanied with the same photos despite the difference in their content.
The most obvious tell-tale sign lies on the box depicted in one of the images that is being circulated in these viral posts
A quick search on Google reveals that SanQua is an Indonesian brand of bottled water produced by a company named PT. Tirta Mas Perkasa.
Interestingly, SanQua is not available in Malaysia nor Thailand.
This is the biggest clue to uncover whether this story is true or a hoax: Indonesia.
The images of a girl stuffed in a box is not doctored and the girl in question is, in fact, a victim of murder that happened in Indonesia last year
Nine-year-old Putri Nur Fauziah was tragically murdered after she was sexually assaulted. She was then stuffed into a cardboard box and dumped in an illegal garbage site in Kamal subdistrict, Kalideres, West Jakarta in October 2015.
It's clear that the images are not photos of a child that was kidnapped and smuggled in a cardboard box to become an organ donor, but of a horrifying real-life murder case.
Unfortunately for the innocent child, even after suffering so much at the hands of her murderer, people are still circulating and using her photos for fake, unsubstantial stories.
Similarly, the image depicting the group of children is believed to be real - except that it originated from Syria
The photo is believed to have originated from the Ghouta chemical attack that occurred in Ghouta, Syria on August 2013.
The attack saw one of the deadliest use of chemical weapons in recent years with the death toll ranging from at least 281 people to 1,729.
These are Syrian children, victims of the deadly chemical attack, and not Malaysian children as claimed.
It is believed that these rumours of child smuggling bid into Thailand have been around for more than two years
Back in 2014, it was reported that the police had denied speculations that children were being smuggled in a lorry to Thailand from Bukit Kayu Hitam.
Earlier this month, the police have also refuted claims that children are being smuggled into Thailand as part of the organ trafficking syndicate.
"I advise the public to stop spreading this case and not to easily believe any kind of incidents that is going viral on social media," Kedah police chief Datuk Asri Yusoff was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.