According to the Information Centre on Missing Persons to Stop Human Trafficking, under the Krachoek Ngao (The Mirror) Foundation, the kids all share a similar behavioural problem: the inappropriate use of high technology equipment.

"It is a worrying trend," the centre says in a recent report. "Most of the children are teenagers and, in some cases, under 10 years old."

The three most addictive influences, before the children end up leaving home, are audio-tech phone services, online chats via the Internet and online games, the centre said. Then it quotes the parents of the missing children.

"She used the telephone much more often than usual before she went missing," said the mother of a 14-year-old girl. "Our telephone bill was double the normal figure, and many of the numbers were audio-tech numbers. Her friends told us she had contacted many strangers via the phone service."

"Frequent use of the phone and chatting via MSN with strange men," another parent explained about the behaviour of her 14-year-old who regularly "goes missing" for a while during her school's summer period.

"Addicted to online games," a father said about his 8-year-old son. "He went missing the morning after we accused him over the issue." The boy has been missing for a year, and his father believes he is hanging around cyber-game shops somewhere in Bangkok. "We tried to follow him through his friends, but it didn't work," the father said.

The centre says the most worrying outcome of the addiction, and the missing children, is unwanted pregnancy and drug use.

"The side-effects of hi-tech services should be seriously discussed and children and teenagers protected from them, with the strong cooperation of parents and the owners of related businesses," the centre said.

The centre can be contacted at www.backtohome.org

Thitima Meeparn

The Nation