Immigration detainees vanish from custody in Songkhla province

[webfact]

Immigration detainees vanish from custody
The Nation

Large group in Songkhla, possibly Uighurs, believed to have fled

BANGKOK: -- A large NUMBER of people from an unknown origin who had been in civilian custody in Songkhla province since March have gone missing, the chief of the provincial social development and human security office said yesterday.

The people had been detained for illegally entering the country, and it is believed they may have fled.

Jaras Chumpan said he had just learned about the detainees going missing, but did not "have information about how many had gone, or details of their age or gender".

A member of staff at the detention centre said "all the detainees had gone", but refused to provide further information.

Some 295 people of unknown nationality, divided into two groups, were found in Songkhla's Rattaphum district on March 12 and taken into detention. The first group comprised 218 people, though no age or gender breakdown was provided. The second group, found on the same day, comprised 77 people - 26 men, 16 women and 35 children.

Though Thai officials have been unable to identify the detainees' nationality, news reports have been suggesting that they might be Uighur people seeking to escape persecution by Chinese authorities.

Pol Maj-General Thatchai Pitaneelabutr, the Immigration Police chief in Songkhla, said 126 detainees - all males - were still in immigration custody.

The women and children had been housed in two buildings - 48 detainees in one and 121 in another. The security provided at the two buildings was from both an outside company and members of staff.

It is believed that all the detainees sneaked out, though some 20 of them were caught and returned to the Songkhla detention facility.

An unconfirmed report citing witnesses said some of the escapees were picked up by vans, signifying outside sources of assistance. There have been no clear indications of the detainees being trafficked or about state officials being aware of the escapes or benefiting from them.

Sunai Phasuk, an adviser at the Human Rights Watch office, said he considered this a huge issue and voiced worries about the likelihood of some of them being returned to their country of origin, where they might be subject to abuse. Also, the repatriation of people against their will is a violation of international laws, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Immigration-detainees-vanish-from-custody-30247551.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-12

[thesetat2013]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

[jabis]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

Someone sleeping/drinking on the job perhaps?

Edited November 11, 2014 by jabis

[Tokay]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

You beat me to it. That many people just don't vanish, they are sold and everyone looks the other way.

[NongKhaiKid]

Did they drive off in the 500 luxury cars that ' vanished ' from the Customs warehouse ?

[NongKhaiKid]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

Easy, TIT.

[chooka]

I can understand misplacing your car keys but 258 people in your care? They were here yesterday, has anyone checked the toilets or the Navy as by another thread on here 200 are going to be pushed out to sea the other 58 are probably on the docks waiting for a leaky boat.

Edited November 11, 2014 by chooka

[Fiddlesticks]

In other news,several Immigration officials from Songkhla are preparing to depart on a luxurious vacation in Hong Kong where they claim that they and their spouses will shop at exclusive area malls and dine at fine restaurants throughout the city.

[BSJ]

Someone could say........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmzsWxPLIOo

[aussieinthailand]

Did they drive off in the 500 luxury cars that ' vanished ' from the Customs warehouse ?

So the people that were charged with the care of said people and luxury cars that have "vanished" what has become of them? still in their job? moved to an inactive post? how about threatened with serious gaol time if info on the missing people and cars is not forthcoming, then this crap may just stop?

Let's see the powers that be take care of this latest debacle....................

And soon to be duel track railway that will be milked for all it's worth, how about putting some fairdinkum protocols with serious penalties for breaches BEFORE it's to late and come up with the same ol same ol the moneys just gone????

[JoePai]

They were here last night Guv - honest !

[halloween]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

I am equally interested in how you got the number 258?

"Some 295 people ....... were found in Songkhla's Rattaphum district.............

"....... 126 detainees ...... were still in immigration custody."

[Lupatria]

To contribute to the daily dose of hub palaver:

Thailand- the hub of Houdinis!

[pookiki]

Let's see. They had been detained for eight months and there was still no clue as to the language they spoke or their country of origin? News reports suggested that they were Uighurs?! What news reports and based on what information? The more likely explanation was that they were Rohingya boat people. I agree with the earlier posts -- sold and trafficked.

[thesetat2013]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

I am equally interested in how you got the number 258?

"Some 295 people ....... were found in Songkhla's Rattaphum district.............

"....... 126 detainees ...... were still in immigration custody."

Simple! I was being a smartass

[JOC]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

I am equally interested in how you got the number 258?

"Some 295 people ....... were found in Songkhla's Rattaphum district.............

"....... 126 detainees ...... were still in immigration custody."

Simple: 295-126=258!!

A former TAT-employee!!

[SABloke]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

Call David Copperfield?

[AGareth2]

sold?

[MobileContent]

SOLD! TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!

How do you lose 258 people?

Not really sold. Snake heads are in close contacts with corrupt Thai officials and they have been doing business with them for over 20 years already.

[MobileContent]

Let's see. They had been detained for eight months and there was still no clue as to the language they spoke or their country of origin? News reports suggested that they were Uighurs?! What news reports and based on what information? The more likely explanation was that they were Rohingya boat people. I agree with the earlier posts -- sold and trafficked.

Many of them spoke Turkish from the past news reports so I would think they are citizens of the PRC.

[thairay]

I went to look at them this morning,and there they were....gone

[greenfox]

Damn.

Luxury cars.

Luxury car documents.

Billions of baht.

Billions of baht's worth of rice.

Immigration detainees.

It's amazing what goes missing here.

Time to ask the magic hole in the ground in Udon Thani where they have gone to.

[greenfox]

The people had been detained for illegally entering the country, and it is believed they may have fled.

Fled. Sold. What's the difference.

[greenfox]

How much do these poor souls go for anyway? 10k a head? 100k a head?

Times 258. And the Thais lost these valuable commodities....

[webfact]

Fears for more than 100 suspected Uighurs who fled Thai custody
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP |

BANGKOK: -- More than 100 migrants thought to be from China's Uighur minority have escaped from shelters in Thailand, with authorities fearing they have fallen into the hands of a human trafficking ring, an official said Wednesday.

Thailand has held dozens of the migrants since March, when they were discovered during a raid on a suspected people-smuggling camp in the kingdom's deep south and sentenced for illegal entry.

Police had said they were waiting to identify the nationalities of the group before deciding their fate.

The migrants claimed they were Turkish, but US-based Uighur activists identified them as Uighurs -- a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim group from China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

The latest annual US human rights report said that China carries out "severe official repression" of Uighurs in Xinjiang, with the Thai raid in March prompting the US State Department to urge Thailand to offer the group protection.

"Only 40 of around 160 women and children remain at the two shelters. They ran away together at night between November 1 and 5," Jaras Chumpan, chief of the social development and human security office in southern Songkhla province, told AFP by telephone.

"I am concerned that they might have been trafficked," he added. "They want to go to Turkey -- they do not want to go back to China."

Thailand has long been a hub for people-trafficking, with thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim minority group from neighbouring Myanmar, believed to have passed through the kingdom in recent years.

Songkhla immigration police chief Thatchai Pitaneelaboot confirmed authorities were searching for the missing women and children, adding that police were still trying to determine their nationalities.

"We still don't know their identities -- we are waiting for their identity proofs," said Thatchai, adding police thought they were from China or Turkey.

In March a southern Thai court fined around 120 adults $124 each for illegal entry, holding the men in detention centres and the women and children in shelters.

"The men have been detained in detention centres across the country," said Thatchai, adding that more than 300 men, women and children were discovered in the March raid -- raising a previous estimate of roughly 200 people.

Under pressure from Beijing, countries including Cambodia, Malaysia and Pakistan have all in recent years forcibly returned Uighurs to China. Thailand has a generally cordial relationship with China.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-11-12