Six more bodies dug out of abandoned graveyard in Padang Besar

[webfact]

Six more bodies dug out of abandoned graveyard in Padang Besar



SADAO: -- Six more bodies believed to be those of Rohingya people have been exhumed from an abandoned graveyard in Padang Besar, Sadao district of Songkhla.

Acting on information from surviving Rohingyas, rescue workers and police today rushed to an abandoned graveyard in Ban Koh Yai, Village 8 of Tambon Padang Besar to investigate.

The workers dug up what look like freshly-dug graves and pulled out six decomposed bodies of four women and two men from the graves. Officials said that the graveyard had been abandoned for a long time.

Meanwhile, Pol Gen Aek Angsananont, the deputy national police chief, made an inspection trip to Padang Besar to beef up the operations of the police in dealing with the human trafficking problem.

An ad hoc operations centre was ordered set up at the 9th region provincial police bureau to coordinate with all police units assigned to tackle the Rohingya issue.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/six-more-bodies-dug-out-of-abandoned-graveyard-in-padang-besar


-- Thai PBS 2015-05-06

[berybert]

How is it possible to dig up 6 freshly dug graves from a grave yard that has been abandoned for a long time.

I wonder why people find Thai officialdom so hard to believe.

[NextStationBangkok]

Independent international investigators should be invited, and Human Rights and UN should take this issue in the hands before Thailand level allegations and let the police and culprits goes free. These are a very serious ones, and whole fishing industry, and sea food companies getting rich by sucking the blood of the poor migrants and illegal immigrants. Sounds scary to live in the country of beautiful smile. Sounds fake after seeing the incidents. With military government, it will be another Kho-Tao incident and everyone go free!

[Lite Beer]

Thai authorities find six more bodies in people-smuggling probe

Padang Besar, Thailand | AFP

Thai police investigating people-smuggling said six more bodies were found Wednesday in the same patch of jungle bordering Malaysia where the remains of dozens of migrants were exhumed last week.


The grim discovery was made about one kilometre from the hillside site where 26 bodies were found over the weekend, near the town of Padang Besar in the southern province of Songkhla.


National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said the bodies of two men and four women had been found.


"It was in a graveyard in a forest on the hillside... around one kilometre from the first camp," he told AFP.


"They were old bodies," Prawut said, referring to their state of decay.


A second senior police officer confirmed the find.


Thai authorities have not yet identified any of the bodies, saying they are in a severe condition of decay.


But the dead are believed to be migrants from Myanmar or Bangladesh. While forensic officers have yet to conclude the causes of death, police have speculated that they may have died from malnutrition or disease.


Several officials from Padang Besar have been charged with human trafficking, while more than a dozen policeman in southern Thailand have been transferred from their positions.


Three more people are on the run, Prawut added.


Rights groups have long accused the Thai authorities of turning a blind eye to -- and even being complicit in -- people-smuggling.


In recent months the military junta, which took over in a coup last May, has vowed to crack down on the trade.


In January it said more than a dozen government officials -- -- including senior policemen and a navy officer -- were being prosecuted for involvement or complicity in human trafficking.


Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims -- mainly from Myanmar -- have made the dangerous sea crossing to southern Thailand in recent years, with many trying to reach Malaysia and beyond.


But many are held captive by ruthless people-trafficking networks that demand thousands of dollars from their friends or family to release them.


On Tuesday anti-trafficking group Freeland said a recent investigation conducted by police and NGOs revealed traffickers were demanding around $3,000 per migrant from family members, or selling them on to Malaysian farmers for $1,000 each.


The exodus of Rohingya -- described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities -- has followed deadly communal unrest in western Myanmar's Rakhine state since 2012.


Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh -- as well as Bangladeshi citizens -- have also been kidnapped and trafficked to Thailand, after being duped with fake job offers or even drugged.


The recent crackdown -- sparked by the arrest of an alleged major migrant kingpin known as "Anwar" -- appears to have forced smugglers to switch tactics, emptying camps but leaving the weak behind to fend for themselves.


The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Wednesday called for "coordinated efforts by countries in the region" to prevent people-smuggling.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-06

[ezzra]

' abandoned graveyard ' ? good to know that it's not still in use......

[AleG]

How is it possible to dig up 6 freshly dug graves from a grave yard that has been abandoned for a long time.

I wonder why people find Thai officialdom so hard to believe.

I find people that speak, or write, without thinking to be extremely annoying.

An old disused by the public graveyard is used by criminals to dig new graves and bodies deposited; it's not that hard to understand, really.

[Scott]

I spent time in a number of conflict zones. I have seen mass graves being uncovered in Iraq and Bosnia. I don't like to think of Thailand being in the same category.

[TheCruncher]

police have speculated that they may have died from malnutrition or disease.

Right, in the next few weeks they probably gonna find dozens more at different grave yards, and at the end it will be announced that they all died from the flu.

[FireMedic]

[ratcatcher]

tip_of_the_iceberg.jpg

An absolutely perfect picture. The tip of the iceberg.

Let us hope that this country sorts this tragic problem out with transparency and professionalism. Captain of the Thaitanic Prayuth Chan-Ocha must avoid the same fate as happened 103 years ago.

For those who think the world isn't aware, think again. It is headline news in many countries and is ugly.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32547552

http://www.dw.de/mass-graves-of-suspected-rohingya-migrants-found-in-thailand/a-18423235

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-06/thailand-army-finds-six-more-bodies-near-mass-grave-site/6450376

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mass-gravesite-highlights-thailands-people-trafficking-struggle-1430631083

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/05/us-calls-for-speedy-inquiry-into-mass-grave-deep-in-thai-jungle

http://www.voanews.com/content/mass-grave-exposes-entrenched-trafficking-in-thailand/2749705.html

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/bodies-found-near-thai-mass-grave-1.1854730#.VUoqvvDcD7o

http://library.islamweb.net/emainpage/articles/204406/mass-graves-of-muslim-rohingya-found-in-thai-south

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/02/asia/thailand-mass-graves/

http://caravandaily.com/portal/mass-graves-of-rohingya-bangladeshi-migrants-found-in-thailand/

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1785618/thai-police-arrest-suspect-over-human-trafficking-network

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/asiapacific/2015/05/03/mass-grave-found-at-thai-trafficking-camp.html

My apologies for posting a long list.

[rethaier]

How is it possible to dig up 6 freshly dug graves from a grave yard that has been abandoned for a long time.

I wonder why people find Thai officialdom so hard to believe.

The logical conclusion is they buried them in an unused graveyard in hope they would not be found any time soon. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

[BestBitterPhuket]

How is it possible to dig up 6 freshly dug graves from a grave yard that has been abandoned for a long time.

I wonder why people find Thai officialdom so hard to believe.

That's why they have zero credibility. They can't even fool a child.