Rohingya Woman Flees Padang Besar Migrant Camp

[Jacob Maslow]

A Rohinhya woman was found after she fled a migrant camp near Padang Besar. The woman, who was discovered on Monday, was allegedly tortured and detained at the camp.

Villagers in the Padang Besar sub-district found the woman, who identified herself as Rohima Khatun. Padang Besar is near the remote jungle camp where officials discovered 30 graves and 26 bodies.

The woman is being cared for at the Padang Besar hospital, but is still disoriented and confused. Ms. Rohima could not explain her background, but did identify herself as a Rohingya. She stated that she was taken from Myanmar and detained in a camp for four months. She finally managed to flee the camp and was discovered by villagers on Monday. She stated that there were around 400 people in the camp. Most were Bangladeshis and Rohingya.

Some believe that the woman may have come from a different camp than the one discovered on Friday as that camp is believed to have held nearly 1,000 people.

Ms. Rohima stated that everyone fled the camp after being told that the police were coming. She could not run because she was too ill. After everyone left the camp, she walked down the mountain, and that’s when she was discovered by local villagers. The woman has a 10-year old daughter who was with her at the camp, but she doesn’t know where she is now.

-- 2015-05-06

[quandow]

e·gre·gious

əˈɡrējəs/

adjective

adjective: egregious

1.

outstandingly bad; shocking.

The world is watching.

[trogers]

Sounds like the economic refugees of Vietnam back in the late 70s.

They have to pay to make the trip, contrasting those kidnapped and sold during the time of "Roots".

[EricBerg]

Camps with perhaps 400 or 1000 prisoners. Impossible that only a few knew about it. Those hundreds have to be fed too. Even if only a bit it means business for quite a few people. The prison camps are big business. That means there are thousands more in them. Means it's an industry. Images of WW2 come to mind. "We didn't know it, we didn't want it" was the postwar line of many millions of germans. Not some but many Thais have sunken deeper than I thought was possible.

[butch333]

after being told that police were coming , funny no ? look like somebady warning the people trafficking that the police will come .

[TheAppletons]

This is becoming a national embarrassment as these stories are reported upon with what seems to be increasing frequency. I'll be the first to admit I had no idea of the size and scope of this problem in Thailand. Prison/hostage camps that apparently exist with the full knowledge of some people in government/law enforcement? Boggles the mind.

[DM07]

1.000 people in one camp and no one knew!

[billd766]

Now here is a good use to put the Army blimp to. With a good GPS, thermal imagers to detect hot spots and cooking fires, sniffers for detecting smoke and very Hi Res cameras they could cruise the while area slowly and look for the camps from low level.

They could have good Army from a different district for ground support and some good trackers as a back up to get to the camps.

The Army units must come from a different region and the local police, border police and army units must NOT be informed or involved.

The Army could also use commercial drones, again fitted with GPS and Hi Res cameras to do the job more quicky and easily but the link between the drone controllers and the Army units might be tricky.

Edited May 6, 2015 by billd766

[Oziex1]

More and more reports coming in but are they being picked up and fed to the world in the evening news, Yes, I have seen a short piece on the ABC in Australia, hope to see more and of the hard hitting investigative type that changes peoples opinion of a country and initiates change.

It now looks as though many, many Thais are involved or picking up money to look the other way,

[trogers]

"Ms. Rohima stated that everyone fled the camp after being told that the police were coming. She could not run because she was too ill."

People who had been forced and abducted would run towards the police for assistance, not run away.

[Credo]

The underbelly of the country is starting to show.

The first glimpse was the boats being towed out to sea without engines some years back. The situation hasn't improved. If anything it has gotten worse. Kidnappings, killings, slavery.....

[FireMedic]

It would NOT take a master tracker to track 1000 people in the jungle. I don't believe for one second that 1000 people can be hidden from view for this long. I also have a feeling many more graves will be found along with real testimony from past prisoners. Someone's nuts will be in the ringer for sure.

[goafa digger]

can we have the gps of the camps. want to satellite it in google maps

[rametindallas]

Camps with perhaps 400 or 1000 prisoners. Impossible that only a few knew about it. Those hundreds have to be fed too. Even if only a bit it means business for quite a few people. The prison camps are big business. That means there are thousands more in them. Means it's an industry. Images of WW2 come to mind. "We didn't know it, we didn't want it" was the postwar line of many millions of germans. Not some but many Thais have sunken deeper than I thought was possible.

Police had apparently been tipped off to the presence of such camps long before last week's grisly discovery, yet they chose not to take any action or investigate further.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/822614-fresh-horror-haunts-thailands-tip-upgrade-bid/

[BSJ]

"Ms. Rohima stated that everyone fled the camp after being told that the police were coming. She could not run because she was too ill."

People who had been forced and abducted would run towards the police for assistance, not run away.

They probably take the view it's better to stick to the criminals you know than the ones you don't. After all the criminals they know will eventually get them to Malaysia.

[JAG]

Unless the police were the people who forced them into the jungle camps in the first place.

[trogers]

Unless the police were the people who forced them into the jungle camps in the first place.

A jungle prison would have been guarded against all captives being able to run away.