Myanmar arrests Thai migrant boat owner

[Lite Beer]

Myanmar arrests Thai migrant boat owner: state media

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP

A Thai national who allegedly owned a boat that was recently discovered by the Myanmar navy crammed with more than 200 migrants has been arrested, state media said Saturday.


The 53-year-old man was detained in the country's biggest city Yangon, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported, adding that his capture was made after authorities exchanged "information with Thai police".


The paper said the man operated under a handful of Myanmar aliases, adding that his Thai name was Naingnutpatunsantun and that he came from Thailand's Ranong province.


"He was said to have contacted human trafficking gangs in Bangladesh and trafficked people into Thailand and Malaysia," the report said.


The report did not say when the arrest was made or what the man was charged with.


Earlier this month Myanmar's navy discovered more than 200 bare-chested men in the hull of a wooden, Thai-registered fishing vessel.


It was the first rescue the navy made since Myanmar came under increasing pressure to stem the exodus of persecuted Rohingya Muslims from its shores after a Thai crackdown on the lucrative regional smuggling trade left thousands of desperate migrants stranded on land and sea after gangmasters abandoned them.


Thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar as well as Bangladeshi economic migrants have been attempting perilous boat journeys organised by people-smugglers to Southeast Asia.


Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia.


On Friday, a second vessel filled with more than 700 would-be migrants was discovered by Myanmar's navy in the Irrawaddy delta region.





- Persecuted minority -




Myanmar has insisted all those found on the first boat are Bangladeshi nationals and has vowed to return them there, although it is not clear if they have been allowed to cross or if Rohingya from Myanmar were among the group.


Buddhist-majority Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as an indigenous ethnic group and officials routinely refer to them as "Bengalis" from across the border.


But Bangladesh has said it will not take back any migrants who trace their origin to Myanmar.


The source nationality of those on board the second vessel is also currently unclear, with Myanmar saying those on board are "Bengalis" but not yet clarifying whether they mean migrants from Bangladesh or Myanmar.


Since Bangkok's crackdown more than 3,500 migrants have arrived on Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian soil in recent weeks, and hundreds or thousands more are feared still trapped on boats.


Myanmar's Rohingya are one of the world's most persecuted minorities, and a surge of violence in 2012 between the community and the Buddhist majority in western Rakhine State brought their plight to the fore. They face restrictions on movement, jobs and family size.


But Myanmar has been keen to portray those leaving as Bangladeshi economic migrants and has rejected widespread criticism that the Rohingya's dire conditions are one of the primary root causes of the current exodus.


At a regional meeting to address the migrant crisis in Bangkok on Friday, Myanmar's delegation said it was being "singled out" for criticism after a UN representative called on the former junta-led nation to improve the Rohingya's lot.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-30

[halloween]

If my name was Naingnutpatunsantun I'd have an alias too.

[JOC]

If my name was Naingnutpatunsantun I'd have an alias too.

Pumpkin Head .................................

[Carnegie]

Hope he gets what he deserves

[halloween]

If my name was Naingnutpatunsantun I'd have an alias too.

Pumpkin Head .................................

Half a midget.

[Traveling Sailor]

Hope he gets what he deserves

I would suggest keelhauling.

[halloween]

He could claim it as an unusual catch. All reports say there are thousands of them floating around out there.

[Oziex1]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Oziex1

[Mudcrab]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Or more realistically.....tell them.....stay home...we don't want you.....and for the Muslims in Myanmar...we don't want you either. Go back to Bangladesh with your spiritual brothers.

I realise this isn't very PC to our nanny state way of thinking....but it is the reality...and will solve the problem.

if you don't like the conditions in your country...do something about it...fight if necessary...us in the west did.....and it wasn't easy or quickly gained.

Maybe breaking the link between religion and politics might be a good place to start.

Or is that too hard?

[Halion]

Give him bottle of water and a pint of diesel and cast the bastard adrift about 250 miles of the coast. A taste of his own medicine.

[geriatrickid]

I hope he is subject to a public trial so that the full details of his activities can be stated in the open. Let him explain what he did with the money from those he exploited. Let him also share with us who he bribed. If guilty, may he enjoy his incarceration.

[PeCeDe]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Or more realistically.....tell them.....stay home...we don't want you.....and for the Muslims in Myanmar...we don't want you either. Go back to Bangladesh with your spiritual brothers.

I realise this isn't very PC to our nanny state way of thinking....but it is the reality...and will solve the problem.

if you don't like the conditions in your country...do something about it...fight if necessary...us in the west did.....and it wasn't easy or quickly gained.

Maybe breaking the link between religion and politics might be a good place to start.

Or is that too hard?

I am so with you Mudcrab. There is no-one more sympathetic to these peoples plight than me, but the answer is not to rely on bleeding hearts to save them and provide welfare for the rest of their lives (a fate worse than death)., coz truth be known, the bleeding hearts don't want them either. The only answer is to fight back in their homeland and fight back hard, at least in Myanmar they have longevity of residence, which in my estimation gives them a right to exist there. As you say Mudcrab...us in the west fought for generations to realize equality and freedom, but unfortunately due to our bleeding heart attitude we have given it away in the space of a generation, a mistake that will soon become even more evident than it is now, and there will be hell to pay! Don't know how much Thai history you know, but the Thai have fought damned hard with terrible sacrifice to reach where they are now, and more power to them for singing "Thailand is for the Thai." If that makes it harder for me to get my visa, then so be it, at least I'm not going around demanding the Thai accept my religious vagaries, and refusing to go along with Thai law because it offends me, I'm also sure that if I were to say look at me I'm so poor, feed me... Not a morsel would head my way, and I wouldn't expect anything..

Edited May 30, 2015 by PeCeDe

[SOTIRIOS]

...put him out to sea for a while...see how much he likes it...

[ToS2014]

som nom na I say to this sad story this is often times pointed as a Myanmar problem.

[kiwikeith]

I hope he is subject to a public trial so that the full details of his activities can be stated in the open. Let him explain what he did with the money from those he exploited. Let him also share with us who he bribed. If guilty, may he enjoy his incarceration.

He did it for free, and he has no friends, no money he's just a good samaritan

[NongKhaiKid]

It's sometimes hard to comment on this subject without sounding hard hearted but there's a practical angle to be considered.

I saw how things went badly wrong in Hong Kong with the Vietnamese Boat People. HK quickly saw the potential to be swamped and didn't want to accept but the colonial masters in London ordered it on humanitarian grounds and HK was swamped.

It didn't matter when resettlement slowed to a trickle as the message in Vietnam was ' just get to HK 'and the boats kept coming.

The EU is trying to force an acceptance quota on member countries which is the worst possible message as it means 'just get to Europe ' which has handed the traffickers a great sales pitch and is of course what intending migrants want to hear.

It doesn't matter where illegal migrants are they need to hear and be shown the message not to come as they will not be entertained. The slightest ray of hope or belief means more will keep trying.

Edited May 30, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[cookee68]

Hope he gets what he deserves

And what's that a 500 baht fine

[Toknarok]

It's sometimes hard to comment on this subject without sounding hard hearted but there's a practical angle to be considered.

I saw how things went badly wrong in Hong Kong with the Vietnamese Boat People. HK quickly saw the potential to be swamped and didn't want to accept but the colonial masters in London ordered it on humanitarian grounds and HK was swamped.

It didn't matter when resettlement slowed to a trickle as the message in Vietnam was ' just get to HK 'and the boats kept coming.

The EU is trying to force an acceptance quota on member countries which is the worst possible message as it means 'just get to Europe ' which has handed the traffickers a great sales pitch and is of course what intending migrants want to hear.

It doesn't matter where illegal migrants are they need to hear and be shown the message not to come as they will not be entertained. The slightest ray of hope or belief means more will keep trying.

It's a hard position to take and it brings howls of protests from the so called compasionate, bleeding-heart, PC, liberals, but I have to agree, this mass uncontrolled migration has to be stopped.

The Australians have the right idea. Boat people are told in no uncertain terms that they will not be allowed on Australian soil. As a result the number of boats arriving has dried up to a trickle.

The Aussies nevertheless still have a very good record regarding the acceptance of refugees, they simply insist that applicants come to the country via legitimate channels.

[metisdead]

An offensive post has been removed.

[simple1]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Or more realistically.....tell them.....stay home...we don't want you.....and for the Muslims in Myanmar...we don't want you either. Go back to Bangladesh with your spiritual brothers.

I realise this isn't very PC to our nanny state way of thinking....but it is the reality...and will solve the problem.

if you don't like the conditions in your country...do something about it...fight if necessary...us in the west did.....and it wasn't easy or quickly gained.

Maybe breaking the link between religion and politics might be a good place to start.

Or is that too hard?

I'm sure you're well aware the Bangladeshi government detains nearly all Myanmar Rohingya in appalling conditions and has done so for many years. I have a strong suspicion that any Muslims in Myanmar who resort to armed conflict would be immediately vilified by many on this forum and would applaud the genocidal / ethnic cleansing response by Myanmar.

[BigC]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Or more realistically.....tell them.....stay home...we don't want you.....and for the Muslims in Myanmar...we don't want you either. Go back to Bangladesh with your spiritual brothers.

I realise this isn't very PC to our nanny state way of thinking....but it is the reality...and will solve the problem.

if you don't like the conditions in your country...do something about it...fight if necessary...us in the west did.....and it wasn't easy or quickly gained.

Maybe breaking the link between religion and politics might be a good place to start.

Or is that too hard?

I agree

[BigC]

It's sometimes hard to comment on this subject without sounding hard hearted but there's a practical angle to be considered.

I saw how things went badly wrong in Hong Kong with the Vietnamese Boat People. HK quickly saw the potential to be swamped and didn't want to accept but the colonial masters in London ordered it on humanitarian grounds and HK was swamped.

It didn't matter when resettlement slowed to a trickle as the message in Vietnam was ' just get to HK 'and the boats kept coming.

The EU is trying to force an acceptance quota on member countries which is the worst possible message as it means 'just get to Europe ' which has handed the traffickers a great sales pitch and is of course what intending migrants want to hear.

It doesn't matter where illegal migrants are they need to hear and be shown the message not to come as they will not be entertained. The slightest ray of hope or belief means more will keep trying.

It's a hard position to take and it brings howls of protests from the so called compasionate, bleeding-heart, PC, liberals, but I have to agree, this mass uncontrolled migration has to be stopped.

The Australians have the right idea. Boat people are told in no uncertain terms that they will not be allowed on Australian soil. As a result the number of boats arriving has dried up to a trickle.

The Aussies nevertheless still have a very good record regarding the acceptance of refugees, they simply insist that applicants come to the country via legitimate channels.

Agree these people are actually of Middle East decent but they shall never be alloud back there

They came to Burma and Bangladesh but never changed nationality but made allot of money out of their land

Now political situations have changed and they want citizenship

There governments attitude is like. You haven't done anything tI help there country now they want citicernship when it suited them and Burma and Bangladesh have said no

[simple1]

It's sometimes hard to comment on this subject without sounding hard hearted but there's a practical angle to be considered.

I saw how things went badly wrong in Hong Kong with the Vietnamese Boat People. HK quickly saw the potential to be swamped and didn't want to accept but the colonial masters in London ordered it on humanitarian grounds and HK was swamped.

It didn't matter when resettlement slowed to a trickle as the message in Vietnam was ' just get to HK 'and the boats kept coming.

The EU is trying to force an acceptance quota on member countries which is the worst possible message as it means 'just get to Europe ' which has handed the traffickers a great sales pitch and is of course what intending migrants want to hear.

It doesn't matter where illegal migrants are they need to hear and be shown the message not to come as they will not be entertained. The slightest ray of hope or belief means more will keep trying.

It's a hard position to take and it brings howls of protests from the so called compasionate, bleeding-heart, PC, liberals, but I have to agree, this mass uncontrolled migration has to be stopped.

The Australians have the right idea. Boat people are told in no uncertain terms that they will not be allowed on Australian soil. As a result the number of boats arriving has dried up to a trickle.

The Aussies nevertheless still have a very good record regarding the acceptance of refugees, they simply insist that applicants come to the country via legitimate channels.

Agree these people are actually of Middle East decent but they shall never be alloud back there

They came to Burma and Bangladesh but never changed nationality but made allot of money out of their land

Now political situations have changed and they want citizenship

There governments attitude is like. You haven't done anything tI help there country now they want citicernship when it suited them and Burma and Bangladesh have said no

Are you sure what you're claiming is historically correct?

Rohingya / Bangladeshis are descended from Indo-Aryan peoples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan_peoples#Earliest_migrations

Burma had granted citizenship to the Rohingya upon gaining independence, citizenship was revoked in 1982. Bangladesh also denied citizenship for Rohingya in 1982.

Edited May 31, 2015 by simple1

[otherstuff1957]

Naingnutpatunsantun can probably be parsed as Nai - Mister and Gnutpatun Santun or Gnut Patunsantun or something along those lines.

Regardless of what his name really is, it's good that the Burmese Govt. arrested him! Hopefully many more of these lowlife scum traffickers will be arrested.

[otherstuff1957]

"Malaysia is a favourite destination. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia"

Wow, they make it sound simple and straightforward, a ferry ride then a pleasant cross country stroll.

A well known guide books section on this trip might read like this

Dangers and Annoyances False promises, Long sea voyage to unknown destination, Extortion, Prolonged Incarceration, Beatings, Murder, Rape ending in a shallow jungle grave.

Or more realistically.....tell them.....stay home...we don't want you.....and for the Muslims in Myanmar...we don't want you either. Go back to Bangladesh with your spiritual brothers.

I realise this isn't very PC to our nanny state way of thinking....but it is the reality...and will solve the problem.

if you don't like the conditions in your country...do something about it...fight if necessary...us in the west did.....and it wasn't easy or quickly gained.

Maybe breaking the link between religion and politics might be a good place to start.

Or is that too hard?

I'm sure you're well aware the Bangladeshi government detains nearly all Myanmar Rohingya in appalling conditions and has done so for many years. I have a strong suspicion that any Muslims in Myanmar who resort to armed conflict would be immediately vilified by many on this forum and would applaud the genocidal / ethnic cleansing response by Myanmar.

The Rohingya have a common religion, culture and language with the Bangladeshis, but are not at all welcome there. I guess the Bangladeshi Govt views them as just more poor unskilled laborers and they already have enough of those.

As for an armed Royhingya insurrection, during WWII the British armed some Royhingya to fight against the Japanese. Instead, they killed up to 20K Burmese Buddhists. An armed insurrection in favor of an independent Royhingya state (the Islamic Republic of Rahmanland) was active post-independence, but ended in the 1960s.

[FangFerang]

The annexing of land by Thailand and Myanmar has created areas of seemingly permanent dissent. Thailand annexed the deeply troubles south, and Myanmar annexed the Rohingya region. Both countries have stateless native-born people indigenous to the annexed regions.

Same same, but different.

[JDGRUEN]

Arrest every owner of a human smuggler boat -- then sink every boat.

Apply every reasonable humanitarian effort to the trafficked people as can be done in any reasonable way... health, medicine, food, clothing. Then put them on a naval landing craft ... find a village on the Bangladesh shore and take them to the beach with supplies and pull away ... add reams of leaflets explaining in several languages ... there will be no new home. You will encounter only misery, beatings, starving, no water, being kidnapped, being killed.

Also put a price on the head of any trafficking worker - sailor, recruiter, helper - whatever - that is turned into the police. Publish that reward in the same hundreds of thousands of leaflets put on the beaches of Bangladesh and Myanmar.