Trafficker of rose-selling children on Bangkok's Khaosan Road arrested

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Trafficker of Rose-Selling Children on Khaosan Road Arrested
By Sally Mairs
Khaosod English


Police press conference at Crime Suppression Division HQ in Bangkok. [Photo by Rachel Kessler].

BANGKOK — Thai police have arrested a man who admitted to trafficking young Burmese children to sell flowers to foreign tourists in one of Bangkok's most popular tourist locales.

The arrest followed Khaosod English's request to interview the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) about children who peddle roses to tourists until 3am every night on Khaosan Road, a notorious watering-hole for backpackers and debaucherous revelers in downtown Bangkok.

Khaosod English and independent filmmaker Rachel Kessler have been investigating the story of these children for several weeks. Interviews with NGOs, business owners on Khaosan Road, and many of the children have suggested that at least some of them are victims of human trafficking.

This morning, Khaosod English was informed that its inquiry on Wednesday prompted police to investigate the area last night and bring five rose-selling children back to the police headquarters. All five children, ranging from age five to fourteen, are Burmese.

One of the children, a seven-year-old boy, told police he was purchased from his family on the Thai-Burmese border and is living with a caretaker in Bangkok who he referred to as his “boss.”

"From what the child told us, there was a transaction between the parents and the dealer beforehand," said Pol.Col. Chitpop Tomuan, a superintendent of the AHTD.

This morning, police tracked down and arrested the "boss" at a residential building near Khaosan Road, where officers found two more children living in the home. The 22-year-old suspect, who is also Burmese, confessed that he paid the children’s parents 50,000 Burmese kyat ($51.14 USD) for each child, Pol.Col. Chitpop said.

According to Witanapat Rutanavaleepong, the head of the Mirror Foundation’s Stop Child Begging project, hundreds of Burmese children are trafficked from communities along the Thai-Burmese border to sell roses in Bangkok and other popular tourist locations in Thailand. The Mirror Foundation has helped return a number of these children back to their families.

Many Burmese families living illegally in western Thailand’s border towns sell their children out of financial desperation, Mr. Witanapat said. Most of them live in extreme poverty and some have been forced to flee Myanmar to avoid ethnic and religious persecution.

According to Mr. Witanapat, families are approached by middlemen who offer a lump sum to take one of their children to sell roses in Bangkok with promises to send back monthly payments of around 1,500 baht. However, the children on Khaosan Road typically ring in around 1,000 baht per night, selling roses at 20 baht a piece. It is suspected that most of the money goes to their caretakers and traffickers.

Mr. Witanapat cited several cases in which families stopped receiving payments after the first few months and eventually lost contact with their children.

“Most of them start with an agreement of how much money they will they get monthly and when the kid will be back,” said Mr. Witanapat said. “But then it becomes human trafficking because the handlers stop paying the families and refuse to return the child.”

According to Mr. Witanapat, only 20% of children sold into the rose-selling business are ever returned home.

This afternoon, the three children who told police they were purchased from their families were moved to a state-owned children’s shelter while police work on locating their parents.

“In the past several hours they have shown great improvement in their mental condition,” Pol.Col. Chitpop said. "They were frightened at first, but they are improving."

The children, who Khaosod English has spoken to on previous occasions and visited at the police headquarters this morning, appeared cheerful and relaxed.

Police are still questioning the four other children in their custody who claim to be selling roses voluntarily. Pol. Col. Chitpot said he suspects they have been trained to lie about their circumstances.

“They may have been threatened not to share any information,” he said.

Pol. Col. Chitpot said police are trying to contact their families to establish whether or not the children are victims of trafficking, but noted that their parents may be unwilling to step forward if they are living in Thailand illegally.

There are at least eight more Burmese children, who Khaosod English has spoken to, that regularly sell roses on Khaosan Road and are not yet in police custody.

Today’s arrest came as Thailand’s military government scrambles to make up for a year of bad press surrounding the country’s dismal record of combatting human trafficking. Tens of thousands of migrants from neighboring countries are trafficked across Thailand’s borders every year and many of them are forced into slavery or exploited in the sex industry. Recent reports by Reuters and The Guardian have thrust a global spotlight on the tragic fate of many trafficking victims, as well as the complicity of some Thai officials.

On Friday, the US State Department downgraded Thailand to the lowest rank in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) for not complying with the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Thailand is now a member of the “Tier 3” category, alongside countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

According to the report, in 2014 Thailand’s “overall anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts remained insufficient compared with the size of the problem in Thailand, and corruption at all levels hampered the success of these efforts.”

Police are expected to hold a press conference about today’s arrest of the trafficking supsect at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the headquarters of the Crime Suppression Division.

“It just feels good to know that these kids are going to go to bed at a normal hour tonight,” said Rachel Kessler, who is filming a documentary about the children who are trafficked to sell roses on Khaosan Road. Ms. Kessler has been researching the story of these children since last October. Her documentary, titled 20 ฿AHT, is scheduled to release in 2015.

Source: http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1403280970&section=14


-- Khaosod English 2014-06-23

[chooka]

Well that is one. Go to almost any intersection or tourist locality anywhere in Thailand and you will see tiny children peddling wares into the early hours of the morning. They are not hard to find as they are everywhere.

[notmyself]

debaucherous revelers

lol

[NongKhaiKid]

Debaucherous revelers = foreigners

Revelers = Thais

[NeilSA1]

Debaucherous revelers = foreigners

Revelers = Thais

Well done Thailand. Well done AHTD, Police and Thailand’s military government. Everyday more good news - may this continue.

[ClutchClark]

The tragedy of unwanted children.

Birth control should be encouraged globally.

[Bkungbank]

Tip of the ice berg many children sleeping on predestrian brige are also gang of mafia putting sleeping pills on the children as you always see them sleeping, I will never of offer cash as this encourage them to catch more children.

[WitawatWatawit]

One of the saddest things about this is that some of the kids later get sold to paedo rings. This happened in the late 90s in an area where I had an interest. So I just hope that all those involved in this investigation into the kids move it forward into areas other than begging. Let's also hope the junta sees sense and allocates more money to the Child and Welfare Protection Division and builds better and nicer facilities for orphaned or "lost" children. There are simply no excuses for not doing the best you can for deprived kiddies.

[doremifasol]

Let the children be.

Is that too much to ask?

[TallPalm]

Those kids are great at thumb wars... beat me everytime.

[lee b]

Purchased from the family, sick, just sick. The family and the guy involved. $51 for a child ! How could they? I bet the family buffalo is still at home !

[ezzra]

Nothing new here junta guys, those Burma and Cambodia street kids have been around

for as long as I remember, beggars women with "rented" babies, crippled, limbless, crunches

hoping men and women every where, there are tourists... nothing new here... how come

it's become a major issue now? and who's to pay for past misdeeds.... who?

[anono222]

Debaucherous revelers, now that hurts!

[Chris Lawrence]

Well that is one. Go to almost any intersection or tourist locality anywhere in Thailand and you will see tiny children peddling wares into the early hours of the morning. They are not hard to find as they are everywhere.

How true. But the press may look good for the US? This is the sad part many tourists will see and maybe buy a flower and not think anything else of it.

A women told me some years ago of a young 19 year old that was sold at 12 into prostitution. Apparently the girl had made her way to Oz applying the trade she was sold into.

Then again my wife told me that many childern are also abducted each year up north, have a limb amputated and are then used for begging around town. The young ones are better as they bring in the most money. There is also a trade in body parts.

Go deeper into this world of human trade and it is a real social problem. NGO's can get involved but when there is a greater economic benefit to those involved that continues without the intervention of the state, then this work becomes extremly hard.

Legalise gambling? Use the money from taxing this as a project to put into social programs. I am sure that other countries would join these social programs but the state has to begin the intervention and use real figures to show the need to stop this trade. Most of this work is done by forigen services; little information gathering is done by Thai institutions.

Just one bust not a nation make? Build the field and they will come? Bit corny but it means well.

[spambot]

Yikes - I had no idea - I regularly give these kids 20 Baht on the road next to Khaosan since I thought I was helping there families with the money - Gee I feel real bad now that I was actually aiding this trafficking...And also stupid that I did not think this situation through.

[AlphMichaels]

These guys are all up and down Sukhumvit in the tourist areas. Sending mothers out with babies that are bright-eyed and full of life at 6PM, then completely crashed and impervious to all the noise by 8:30. Baby Benadryl has always been my take on what they may use..., just hope it's not something worse. The kids selling flowers and gum....., most from the same lot but some do run with family close by to make some extra cash for food. Thinking of one I used to see around Soi 20-22.

I can spot them from 100 meters and shortly after that I can find the guys "managing" them as they hawk their stuff or hold out their cups. No doubt getting less than 50% of what they take.

I hope they're serious about this and taking every one of these scumbags out of business.

[Loles]

I Junta.

Jail for long term all these disgusting bastards who are involved this children trafficking case.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

That is the best news I have heard in a long long time. This has always been my most hated thing about Thailand. Let's hope this is just the beginning. There is not reason any child should ever be on these streets at night. IMO the police are just as guilty as anyone as they are likely getting a piece of that action as well.

Track down the whole lot and throw the book at them. Set a precedent and don't stop. Great work Prayuth!!! Keep it going.

[Loles]

Yikes - I had no idea - I regularly give these kids 20 Baht on the road next to Khaosan since I thought I was helping there families with the money - Gee I feel real bad now that I was actually aiding this trafficking...And also stupid that I did not think this situation through.

spambot, I give these unlucky kids always food, drink, milk, some candy. If I give money I just help only these disgusting greedy scam-bags behind poor children.

I hope one-day they will get all which they are deserved.

[jaapfries]

The tragedy of unwanted children.

Birth control should be encouraged globally.

@ClutchClark: it appears that your comprehension of the various cultures in "poor" nations, around the globe, is less than fractional.

You have to appreciate the fact that in those nations, there is no such thing as 'Social Security' - there are NO safety-nets for the people. There's also NO life-insurance to be had, so the solution (for these poor folks) is to produce as many children as possible, in the hope (and expectation) that IF the parents fal on hard times and/or 'old age' (and unable to work), that these many children will support these parents, so they don't simply starve to death.

Here in Thailand, the proof is everywhere too; a young couple gets together; have kid, or kids and guess who brings-up these children ? ? Grandma does, which enables the young couple to work and garner the money to support not only themselves, but also their kid(s) AND the grandmother. I realize this is very hard to 'stomach' when looking through 'Western-Eyes", but this is precisely what's happening all around the world.

[Pib]

Human trafficking is rampant in Thailand...a blind man could see it. Too bad the govt/police have seen little of it until things like negative worldwide press fully opens the eyes and ears of govt/police. I just hope their eyes and ears stay open with aggressive anti-trafficking action when they see and hear about human. Oh yea, and don't wait for it to "just happen to come into view"---get out there and aggressively investigate and hunt down human traffickers.

[garyinhuahin]

“Most of them start with an agreement of how much money they will they get monthly and when the kid will be back,” said Mr. Witanapat said. “But then it becomes human trafficking because the handlers stop paying the families and refuse to return the child.”

Curious definition. Apparently, child rental is deemed to be okay.

[antimedia]

Yikes - I had no idea - I regularly give these kids 20 Baht on the road next to Khaosan since I thought I was helping there families with the money - Gee I feel real bad now that I was actually aiding this trafficking...And also stupid that I did not think this situation through.

No, at worst, yours and others innocent donations probably saved the kids from a beating or worse, sold in to a pedophile ring.

[Mudlover]

“Most of them start with an agreement of how much money they will they get monthly and when the kid will be back,” said Mr. Witanapat said. “But then it becomes human trafficking because the handlers stop paying the families and refuse to return the child.”

and

Pol. Col. Chitpot said police are trying to contact their families to establish whether or not the children are victims of trafficking, but noted that their parents may be unwilling to step forward if they are living in Thailand illegally.

These children are being exploited in contravention of Thailand's child labour laws. How can there be any doubt that they have been trafficked?

[klauskunkel]

Khaosod English and independent filmmaker Rachel Kessler have been investigating the story of these children for several weeks.

This morning, Khaosod English was informed that its inquiry on Wednesday prompted police to investigate the area last night.

Thank you Khaosod, for taking the police by the hand and pointing them at what's been going on for years, they simply didn't know...

[cracker1]

I think the Police Chief in Khaosan Road area should be removed and prosecuted for allowing this situation to exist for so long.

[RuamRudy]

Purchased from the family, sick, just sick. The family and the guy involved. $51 for a child ! How could they? I bet the family buffalo is still at home !

Or, it could be a indication of just how desperate the lives of the family are. Buffalo at home? Maybe they don't even have a home. I have no idea, so I don't feel in a position to judge.

[Rykbanlor]

I forget the name of the minister or official who recently spoke on the US downgrading of Thailand on the Anti-trafficking index, who said while he accepts the downgrading he disagrees as he says Thailand has been taking measures recently. But the very visible and obvious existence of these Kids and the recent allegations linking the Navy to the trafficking of Rohingya don't suggest that.

[rebelplatoon]

I just love how the so called JUNTA gets more things done than any Government before them.

[rickirs]

Well done US. Maybe downgrading Thailand to the lowest rank in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) for not complying with the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking has motivated Thailand to make greater efforts in investigating and stopping human trafficking. I look forward to the junta to bring all the nation's resources to root out this evil even if it means "shooting itself in the foot."