A Taiwanese man jailed for skipping military service has been found not guilty after judges learned he had actually been kidnapped and held in a Myanmar scam compound for over a year.

• A man from Taichung flew to Thailand for a short holiday and never came back, so prosecutors charged him with dodging the draft.
• A driver arranged by a friend took him toward the Thai-Myanmar border instead of his hotel, where two men forced him into a car and delivered him to a scam compound.
• His captors demanded a NT$500,000 ransom from his family; his sister reported him missing to police within days.
• The first court sentenced him to three months in prison for staying abroad to avoid service, without checking why he had not returned.
• He was freed in a joint Thai-Chinese crackdown on Myanmar scam operations, returned home, and has since completed his military service.

Outlook: The acquittal adds pressure on Taiwanese authorities to check for trafficking before prosecuting citizens who go missing overseas.