29 Rohingya women traffickers targeted women and children with tales of prosperity in Malaysia, while Rohingya men traffickers likewise targeted men. “Aung Kyaw Thura,” a middle-aged Rohingya community leader in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, explained: The main [trafficking] company is in Malaysia. [The head of the syndicate] needs, let’s say, 1,000 people from Myanmar or Bangladesh in order to send the ship. He hires someone from [Rakhine State, Myanmar]. The main trafficker in Malaysia is from our [Rohingya] community . . . There are big traffickers on the ship. They will call the onshore brokers and say, “If you can send ten people, you will get two-million Myanmar Kyat (US$2,000; 7,000 Malaysian Ringgit) so try to find the people.” [The onshore trafficker] is the agent of the traffickers. He doesn’t know anything. He really needs two-million Myanmar Kyat, so he will persuade them any way he can.23 Aung Kyaw Thura also explained how traffickers deceived Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State: Let’s say there is a young person who is responsible for managing cows. He only knows about cows. The trafficker goes to him and says, “What are you doing for a living? What is your salary? Do you want to go with me? You will get two million Myanmar Kyat (US$2,000; 7,000 Malaysian Ringgit) per month. You will go on a ship. As soon as you go on the ship, your family will get money, 500,000 Myanmar Kyat (US$520; 1,800 Malaysian Ringgit), and when you get to Malaysia, you will have great opportunities. My uncle has a big project and needs thousands of workers.” This boy in Sittwe [in Myanmar’s Rakhine State] gets 20,000 Myanmar Kyat (US$21; 73 Malaysian Ringgit) per month, and in Malaysia, he thinks he will get two million, so he thinks, “Okay, I am going.”24 “Mohammed Yunus,” 26, told Fortify Rights: A dallal named [redacted] visited Aung Mingalar [in Myanmar’s Rakhine State]. It was nighttime, and I was in a teashop. He said to me, “Would you like to go to Malaysia?” I thought he might be a good guy and that he was trying to rescue my life from here. I heard that people got rich in Malaysia and that the U.N. [United Nations] also rescued people. I asked him if there would be any difficulties for me if I travelled. He said there would be no difficulties.25 On the day before his departure, Mohammed Yunus walked to the dallal’s home, where the dallal told him that the authorities would arrest him if he were discovered, instilling fear. He told Fortify Rights: When we prepared a small boat [to travel to the larger boat waiting out at sea], the dallal said, “Please, give me your shoes. You cannot bring your shoes. If you bring your shoes, the dallals will beat you.” When I heard that, I said, “Sorry, I cannot go with you. When I was in Aung Mingalar, you didn’t say that they would beat us.” He said, “No, no, not like that. It’s just that you can’t wear shoes,” so the dallal took my shoes. We had to walk two hours from Ohn Daw Gyi [internment camp in Sittwe Township, Rakhine State] to the boat. When we arrived there, the boat came to us. The boat owner picked us up. [The dallal] was nowhere to be seen. He left us at Ohn Daw Gyi.26 Mohammed Yunus spent a total of 57 days at sea on board a human-trafficking ship before being sold back into his community in Myanmar’s Rakhine State after the ship could not disembark in Thailand or Malaysia following the regional “crackdown” on human trafficking in 2015.27 Some Rohingya knew the risks of departing Myanmar by sea but recognized the lack of other options. 23 Fortify Rights interview with #119, Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 20, 2015. 24 Ibid. 25 Fortify Rights interview with #121, Sittwe Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 26, 2015. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid.