The man was identified as Wandee Promhome of Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Wandee was lured yesterday to Soi Pridi Panomyong 6 by the task force by a promise that he would be paid a ransom of Bt7,000 for a 20-year-old Myanmar woman and her brother.

The task force rescued the siblings, whose names were not revealed, after receiving a complaint from non-governmental organisation staff that the brother had been smuggled into Thailand by a human-trafficking network via Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.

The boy wanted to visit his two sisters, a 20-year-old and 16-year-old, who worked as maids in the Ekkamai area in Bangkok.

However, the human smugglers allegedly refused to send the boy to his family but held him hostage and demanded a ransom. The sisters agreed to pay the ransom in three installments for a total of Bt15,000.

The gang then asked the 20-year-old sister for an additional Bt7,000 but she did not have the money so she was also allegedly kidnapped.

NGO staff alerted the Damrongtham Centre of the Interior Ministry, which formed a task force with the cooperation of police.

With the help of the 16-year-old sister, the task force contacted the gang posing as the sister and saying she would pay the Bt7,000 ransom.

When Wandee drove a van to the rendezvous, the task force arrested him and rescued the brother and the sister, who were in the van. Police will investigate whether Wandee is involved with transnational human smuggling.