PM Prayut gives ten-day deadline to find migrant camps

[webfact]

TRAFFICKED MIGRANTS
Ten-day deadline to find migrant camps
The Nation



PM wants complete scrutiny of all areas; may use article 44 power to tackle trafficking issue

BANGKOK: -- PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday gave a 10-day deadline for a complete scrutiny of all areas for possible detention camps and graves related to trafficked migrants.

Local authorities would look for existing crimes or related illegal activities, said Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

The scans would be carried out through normal procedures but if problems or delays were encountered, Article 44 of the provisional constitution would be invoked to clear any obstacles, he said, without giving details on how the measures would be adopted under the article.

The Interior Ministry's Provincial Administration Department would gather information from local agencies during the 10-day scan before holding meetings to pass on instructions from the government on how to tackle the problems that had arisen.

"If government officials are found involved and local agencies are powerless to deal with them, report the findings to the department director-general and the government will step in to deal with the problems," he said.

Local officials from village heads to district chiefs would not only search for signs of Rohingya trafficking, such as detention camps and graves, but also other crimes ranging from land encroachment and illegal or unregulated fishing to the drug trade.

The discovery of detention camps and graveyards in the South used by smugglers to detain or bury Rohingya migrants raises concerns that Thailand would run afoul of US and EU protocols against human trafficking and abuse of fishermen. Sarnsern said Thailand was doing its best to tackle all these problems and it was up to the US to decide what action it wanted to take against Thailand next month.

Pol Lt-General Chakthip Chaijinda, deputy national police chief, said he would discuss the a trafficking issue with his Malaysian counterparts during a border meeting today.

A local police commander was assigned to coordinate with Myanmar, from where the Rohingya come, while he was in talks with Malaysia. Both countries are offering good cooperation, he added.

Operations centre

An operations centre to tackle migrants trafficking, set up in Songkhla's Hat Yai district, would bring together officials from various agencies, he said.

The southern provinces of Ranong, Phang Nga and Satun, as well as parts of Songkhla, have been used by traffickers, but closely coordinated efforts through this new centre were expected to bring good results, he said.

Army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari said the Army would not protect a major accused of being part of a smuggling syndicate that detained Rohingya and demanded ransoms for their release from their families.

Questioning of a group of four military officers was underway after villagers filed a police complaint accusing them of holding some Rohingya people for money.

The four officers had been assigned to investigate trafficking in the Padang Besar border town of Songkhla.

In Sadao district of that province, eight graves in an abandoned Islamic cemetery were excavated yesterday.

Six skeletal remains, including four of women, were found. The post-mortem is expected to identify who the dead are, or whether they are trafficked migrant workers.

Local police quoted villagers as saying all six were not local residents. An imam, Abdulloh Jaidee, said what was suspicious about the six bodies was that stretchers were found nearby.

An interpreter based in Nakhon Si Thammarat said he was feeling pressure after television reports recently cited his role as a police witness. Sofie Muhammad said he was only a certified interpreter who assisted police in their questioning of Rohingya and witnesses.

A relative of a murdered ransom victim had to be put under police protection after he came out with details about Rohingya trafficking, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Ten-day-deadline-to-find-migrant-camps-30259476.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-07

[arthurboy]

10 days.

As the ones running this horror, why not just arrest and question the regional army, navy, police and senior govt. officials and ask them?

They already know all there is to know about this.

[ExPratt]

So that means in 2 weeks they'll not bother looking for anymore ?

[NongKhaiKid]

So that means in 2 weeks they'll not bother looking for anymore ?

10 days is so unfair, how about a 6 month extension ?

[Bluespunk]

"An interpreter based in Nakhon Si Thammarat said he was feeling pressure after television reports recently cited his role as a police witness. Sofie Muhammad said he was only a certified interpreter who assisted police in their questioning of Rohingya and witnesses."

And just in case anyone missed it on television, here it is again in our report.

[EnzoRippo]

One more oukase from junta leader. Journalists, please check which of his orders had been followed by effect.

I still drive my motorcycle on the sidewalk without any helmet like everyone.

Not enough to shout on a stage, need to work afterwards.

[ChrisY1]

"Local officials from village heads to district chiefs would not only search for signs of Rohingya trafficking, such as detention camps and graves etc..."

These guys will definately be able to find them........!!

[oneday]

Number one...you can't put a hard deadline like that on an undertaking such as this, but you can order that all effort be put into these camps being found as quickly as possible. Try overflights with thermal-imagining at night when the surroundings are cooler...just a thought.

Number two...why wasn't something like this ordered a long, long time ago...because there was no incentive and they could care less about people they look upon as less than human.

[Oziex1]

Hit the active camps, finding the abandoned camps means very little, and is a sure sign of corrupt involvement of officials giving / getting tip offs of impending action.

I fear we will only see the abandoned camps and the bodies of the trafficked.

[abitmiffed]

10 days.

As the ones running this horror, why not just arrest and question the regional army, navy, police and senior govt. officials and ask them?

They already know all there is to know about this.

Damn right they do...shouldn't take 10 days. Only a few phone calls will be needed.. But then again no one can lose face over this so 10 days to do a runner or kill them selves is good enough... Watch over the next month how many more apparent suicides there are. Oh don't forget the amount of upcoming transfers to active posts.

Shame on you Thailand. Shame on you

[impulse]

Gotta question the wisdom of this edict.

Because, when I ask myself how to quickly get rid of hundreds -if not thousands- of living, breathing human beings within 10 days, most of the possible solutions make my skin crawl.

[PREM-R]

This was reported by the BBC a couple of days ago:

"The Thai authorities have known about these camps for years.

Local communities are paid off to keep quiet, or their young men employed as guards. Police and other officials get their cut of a business where traffickers pay $20,000 (£13,160) or more for a boatload of migrants, then try to recoup the cost by demanding big ransoms from their families.

Those who cannot pay are kept, and often terribly abused or killed. Last year a senior police officer told me about a huge transit camp right on the Malaysian border.

But they could not move against it - the area was controlled by the army, he said.

Thailand has a military government. If they really want to show serious purpose in shutting down the trade, they will have to take action against people in their own ranks." More

[DM07]

10 days ...and then what?

[EnzoRippo]

" 38 police officers transferred following finding of Rohingya death camps"

It's not like that you'll end the scandal, dear Junta Leader.

When a guy carries 500 gr of drug, he gets death sentence, when an officer (and mostly from NAVY) is accomplice of human trafficking, murder, extortion, he's just "transferred".

[toybits]

It is funny how they manage only to find dead ones and hardly any live Rohingyas. Perhaps it is more convenient to find the dead as the dead don't talk. The few live Rohingyas that do manage to surface are easily intimidated. My guess is that if there are Rohingyas that are still held captive, they would most likely have been transferred out of the jungle and moved into areas not being searched at the moment. This "cat and mouse" game has been going on too long and everyone has their own favorite suspect or conspirator.

[jackanapes]

I think they will find more bodies as they go along human trafficking is very big business and there are a lot of people involved and a lot of victims .

[Linky]

How can any person be involved in this. The thought just terrifies me.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Linky

[lemonjelly]

Gotta question the wisdom of this edict.

Because, when I ask myself how to quickly get rid of hundreds -if not thousands- of living, breathing human beings within 10 days, most of the possible solutions make my skin crawl.

I was just about to post similar sentiments. The question is: will the impending slaughter be covered up?

[jayboy]

10 days.

As the ones running this horror, why not just arrest and question the regional army, navy, police and senior govt. officials and ask them?

They already know all there is to know about this.

Damn right they do...shouldn't take 10 days. Only a few phone calls will be needed.. But then again no one can lose face over this so 10 days to do a runner or kill them selves is good enough... Watch over the next month how many more apparent suicides there are. Oh don't forget the amount of upcoming transfers to active posts.

Shame on you Thailand. Shame on you

You are absolutely right.All the information is already known by local military, security and government officials.Prayuth's response if reported correctly is either dishonest or stupid - or more likely both.He now has to take action.Nobody suggests he is at fault but he is now for better or worse in charge.Thailand's last vestiges of honour lie in his hands.

[Lupatria]

That's a fair deadline to relocate 400 to 500 people...

[Caveat Emptor]

Gotta question the wisdom of this edict.

Because, when I ask myself how to quickly get rid of hundreds -if not thousands- of living, breathing human beings within 10 days, most of the possible solutions make my skin crawl.

I was just about to post similar sentiments. The question is: will the impending slaughter be covered up?

Hate to be negative but I'm sure there will be a good attempt to minimize the fallout at the very least as this is international headline news and any old excuse will do as the world will understand as they always do, if you are a government spokesman here.

[Usual Suspect]

Wonder how much of this sad case will affect future tourism now the story has international status..?

And how do we know Prayut has heaps of men looking for more detention camps?..again could be all false reports fed to the media..?

[Oziex1]

Not many years ago Myanma was known as a Military Dictatorship (it still is) with all sorts of human rights abuses, it's tourist industry was small if existent at all travel guides recommended bypassing Myanmar, the country was an international Pariah.

Why is Thailand not seen in the same light and treated the same as Myanmar was.

[Baerboxer]

This was reported by the BBC a couple of days ago:

"The Thai authorities have known about these camps for years.

Local communities are paid off to keep quiet, or their young men employed as guards. Police and other officials get their cut of a business where traffickers pay $20,000 (£13,160) or more for a boatload of migrants, then try to recoup the cost by demanding big ransoms from their families.

Those who cannot pay are kept, and often terribly abused or killed. Last year a senior police officer told me about a huge transit camp right on the Malaysian border.

But they could not move against it - the area was controlled by the army, he said.

Thailand has a military government. If they really want to show serious purpose in shutting down the trade, they will have to take action against people in their own ranks." More

Yes course he did. Being a member of that wonderful heroic band of fearless justice seekers known as the untouchable RTP he was ready to pounce and see justice done.

All the Military's - the professional police are corruption free and just love working for unbiased fair for all justice and law enforcement

And you swallowed this?

More like he was pissed they were getting a bigger cut. Why do you think the police, the DSI have shown zero interest in addressing this and have done nothing about it this century?

Edited May 7, 2015 by Baerboxer

[Baerboxer]

Not many years ago Myanma was known as a Military Dictatorship (it still is) with all sorts of human rights abuses, it's tourist industry was small if existent at all travel guides recommended bypassing Myanmar, the country was an international Pariah.

Why is Thailand not seen in the same light and treated the same as Myanmar was.

Think about it. The answer is fairly obvious to all but those who wish to continually claim control by a non elected criminal was somehow democratic.

[NeilSA1]

Looking at the photo, the lone digger will need more than 10 days to dig up the graves, albeit there seems to be a large group of people offering moral support (and advice?).

[NongKhaiKid]

Looking at the photo, the lone digger will need more than 10 days to dig up the graves, albeit there seems to be a large group of people offering moral support (and advice?).

Classic Thai crime scene, Uncle Tom Cobley and so on.

[joshstiles]

10 days aye...

so basically "hurry up and relocate these camps so we can claim that we have no knowledge of any camps"

sure....the US is buying it

do you guys try to sell Amway on the side?

[T_Dog]

Good background here, but the potential number of people involved is staggering. A bit sad that it takes international pressure to get any action on this.

http://www.dw.de/thailand-turning-a-blind-eye-to-human-trafficking/a-18431748

[whatawonderfulday]

This is the guy that whilst in charge of the army allowed it to go on It is disgrace that such disgusting, atrocious , abuse of basic human rights and corrupt practices by the military where even allowed to continue under a so called democratic government of the time. But there again it just highlights that irrespective of the government elected these Thai criminals could continue their abuses with absolute impunity apparently knowing they would be protected at the highest levels

Now these criminals, pretending to be politicians are picking out a few low level police to be the fall guys.

Amazing Thailand and Thainess illustrated at it's best again.

Edited May 7, 2015 by whatawonderfulday