BANGKOK, Thailand – A 17-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Rayong province for 16 days has been found working at a restaurant in Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district, following a widespread search coordinated by police and the Mirror Foundation. The girl had left home alone on 24 August, with initial information indicating she travelled from Rayong to Bangkok and no indication of abduction or involvement in a romantic relationship.

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The family contacted the Mirror Foundation for help, and after 16 days of disappearance, the foundation contacted Pol Maj Gen Teeradet Thamsuthee, Deputy Commissioner of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police, who dispatched officers from the Narcotics Suppression and Prevention Centre, known as Team Jao, to conduct a comprehensive search across the capital. During their investigation, Team Jao found a motorcycle taxi driver who said he recognised the girl but could not recall where he had dropped her off after so many days, prompting officers to use motorcycle taxis to patrol various areas until they found a restaurant in the Bueng Kum district that they recognised as a possible location.

The restaurant owner revealed that the girl was currently working there, explaining that a few days prior they had found her sleeping in front of the restaurant late at night, appearing homeless. Upon questioning, they learned she had left her home in Rayong without telling anyone to find work and save 15,000 baht to send home, and out of pity and compassion they offered her work at the restaurant for 500 baht a day.

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The restaurant owner then took the officers to a low-cost apartment where they found the girl writing a diary detailing her daily journey in a small room. A female officer spoke with her to explain that her family was distressed by her disappearance and that despite her good intentions to help her family, she ultimately had to return home to their embrace.

-Thailand News (TN)