A British teenager has been found alive after going missing in the Thai jungle, where he reportedly survived for 10 days by eating insects and bark.
Police in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, launched a full-scale operation to find 19-year-old Lawrence Stallard Honour after he was reported missing by his Thai-Russian mother, Gulnara, who lives in the Chonburi province, according to The Thaiger.
Mr Stallard Honour was discovered after he stumbled across the remote Wat Tham Sawan Bandan Buddhist temple on Sunday.
His mother had reported his disappearance after she noticed suspicious activity on her son’s email account linked to the Sangkhla Buri district, over 300 miles from where he was last seen in Pattaya.
Pictures have emerged of the teenager looking emaciated after police found him, local media has said.
Kanchanaburi governor Athisan Intara launched a search for the teenager on 2 October, ordering all security agencies and border units to intensify their efforts after CCTV footage caught the 19-year-old walking out of a resort in Sangkhla Buri on 27 September, according to The Nation Thailand.
Immigration Police reported that same day that he had attempted to cross into Phaya Tong Su, Myanmar, while talking on the phone.
Authorities intervened, explaining that border crossing was not allowed at the time, before he later tried to climb the fence again, according to the news outlet, prompting authorities to escort him back on a bus.
The teenager was taken to a resort, according to the Daily Mail, where he was unable to check-in because he had no money to pay for a room. He later vanished without a trace when he set off into the forest and darkness fell.
Mr Stallard Honour’s parents were concerned he may have fallen victim to scammers who were trying to lure him across the border to work for a Myanmar-based call centre gang, local media reported.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions in September against a large network of scam centres across Southeast Asia “that steal billions of dollars from Americans using forced labor and violence”.
“Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” said under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley.
“In 2024, unsuspecting Americans lost over $10 billion due to Southeast Asia-based scams and under President Trump and Secretary Bessent’s leadership, Treasury will deploy the full weight of its tools to combat organized financial crime and protect Americans from the extensive damage these scams can cause.”
