A British teenager who was feared to have been lured into a scam compound has been found safe two weeks after he went missing near lawless Myanmar.

Lawrence Stallard Honour, 19, reportedly survived living in the forest for 10 days by eating ants and tree bark before he was discovered at a temple in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, on Saturday.

The computer whiz was last seen leaving a hotel in the province on September 27, sparking a frantic search by Thai police near the border.

Police Colonel Santi Phithaksakul, superintendent of Sangkhla Buri Police Station, said he was notified on Monday, October 13, that the boy was found alive at the Wat Tham Sawan Bandan temple.

He said: 'The interrogation revealed that Mr. Lawrence intended to go to Payathonzu in Karen State, Myanmar. He had planned to go through the Three Pagodas border pass on September 27, but the checkpoint had already closed.'

Lawrence was then taken to a resort, but he was unable to check in as he had no money for a room. He charged his phone before setting off - only to lose his way in a forest as darkness fell.

Alone and disoriented, the youngster claimed he wandered the woods for days, trekking through rough terrain as he scavenged for bugs and tree bark to survive.

He eventually stumbled his way back to the Wat Tham Kaew Sawan Bandan temple, where he was rescued by the One Sky Foundation on October 11.

Officials said there were no signs the boy had been abused or trafficked.

His British father, Julian Honour, and mother, Gulnara Fattakhova, have collected him from the rescue team.

Thai police had launched a search for Lawrence after he was last seen leaving a hotel in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand, on September 27.

His mother Gulnara had filed a report at the Pattaya City Police Station.

She told officers: 'I checked my son's email and found records of his movements in Kanchanaburi province, which was very worrying. He's a very shy and quiet boy but he is excellent with computers.

'I'm afraid that he has spoken to people online and be tricked into going to one of these scam centers in Myanmar, where they don't let people leave.'

Authorities have not yet clarified why Lawrence had been trying to cross over into Myanmar.

Myanmar, formerly Burma, was plunged into armed conflict and civil war when democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was removed by a military coup in February 2021.

In the lawless environment, methampetamine production has flourished alongside call centre scam compounds operated by gangs that target people around the world with financial and romance scams.

In September 2025, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified nine targets operating in Shwe Kokko, Myanmar, along with ten entities in Cambodia, for their roles in large-scale scam operations.

The OFAC also imposed sanctions on the Karen National Army (KNA) and its leader Saw Chit Thu (and his sons), for involvement in cyber scams, human trafficking, and smuggling.

Serious human rights concerns have also been raised about how the centers are staffed. Reports from the United Nations, NGOs, and regional governments show that the way the gangs recruit, transport, and control workers often amounts to human trafficking and forced labor.

Evidence shows that the workers are often subjected to trafficking, cross-border abductions, forced labor and slavery-like conditions, physical abuse, torture, debt bondage and extortion.