Crackdown five years ago allegedly showed senior Army officer how to profit from Rohingya

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Crackdown five years ago allegedly showed senior Army officer how to profit from Rohingya
BUNLUEN PHROMPRATHANKUL
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- IT WAS a crackdown on trafficking of Rohingya and other migrants, starting in Ranong five years ago, that put key suspect Lt-General Manas Khongpaen in charge, and later taught him to know how to make profit from the illicit trade of humans.

Then a colonel, Manas headed an Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) mission in Ranong.

It led a coalition of 17 government agencies in an operation, codenamed "Phithak [protect] Andaman", to monitor movement of and intercept Rohingya and other migrants smuggled through Ranong, mainly on land routes.

From 2010, the operation led Manas to know two key traffickers based in Ranong who had been running a number of illegal businesses - including trafficking of illegal migrants, especially in the first-phase of the Phithak Andaman mission - from November 2010 to April 2011.

The mission's militarised policies, some of which were notably clandestine, included setting up a civilian scouts network to monitor movement of groups of strangers and to notify officials of their discovery. At the same time they indoctrinated local residents with patriotism and other basic military training and jungle trekking. They also set up communications stations and provided two speedboats for use in auxiliary coastal maritime patrols.

To deal with migrants on board fishing trawlers or other ships, patrols and monitoring were established along five islands from Ta Krut to Khang Khao off the Ranong coast. A key clandestine policy was to convince boat people not to enter Thai waters while providing food, freshwater and fuel for a sea trek - enough for up to 20 days, which would take the vessels to a neighbouring country.

With the clandestine nature of the Phithak Andaman mission under his direct command, Manas was able to keep both his work and the trafficking a secret to outsiders for all five years covering later stages of the mission. Well-liked for his solid charisma and high-disciplined character, Manas became popular with local residents.

He was often invited to preside over ceremonies and was chief adviser to Ranong Football Club.

Soon after being promoted to the rank of major-general, Manas applied for senatorial election but lacked a key candidacy qualification.

He was later appointed to a key position in Songkhla and was heard telling guests at a party about his next plan to be based in his home province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. He said he wanted to open bullflighting dens - even though his original intent was to be based permanently in Ranong.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Crackdown-five-years-ago-allegedly-showed-senior-A-30261486.html


-- The Nation 2015-06-03

[Strangebrew]

Bull fighting Dens? more like bullchitting dens. And now hand caught in cookie jar. Yo general got your lear jet warmed up? I feel an emergency shopping trip coming up.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Strangebrew

[clockman]

Every sector of Thai society is corrupt. And has been for decades!

[Mr Somtam]

Centuries.

[Toknarok]

Talk about putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. I'm wondering just how many more top army brass are involved. I'll bet there's a lot of paper shredding and money shuffling going on at the moment.

[klauskunkel]

5 years ago, he was a Colonel...he shot up 3 ranks in just 5 years. A rocket man, wow!

Maybe the Anti-Corruption specialists should not only focus on "Unusual Wealth", but also on "Unusual Promotion Speed Based on Illicit lubrication"

[HerbalEd]

It doesn't get any more evil than slave trafficking and the suffering, torture, murder, and rape that goes with it. If found guilty this general should be executed.

[clockman]

When you lift a stone in Thailand, there is always something nasty underneath!

[FangFerang]

Every news article since the arrests and mass graves were found has been diversionary. All the rhetoric focuses on migrants, and people who did not want Thailand as their final destination.

Deafening silence..about enslaved Thais and illegal migrants on fishing boats...the Navy was turtle slow to show up for anything, so all the well-connected Thai fishing industry slavers had plenty of time to sail away, find a safe port, and bugger off.

"Slavery? What slavery?" they say now.

[maidee]

and they knew this already 5+ years ago

[jinjin]

Nope, they knew this 12 yrs ago.

[jackanapes]

manas is only one of many he is one link in the chain of command the police are also involved and only time will tell sooner or later the whole chain will be broken and the big boys will all come tumbling down.

[Emster23]

Crackdown? Wrong choice of word. More like "patdown".... or "exploring business opportunities".

"At the same time they indoctrinated local residents with patriotism and other basic military training and jungle trekking." Could someone please give a coherent explanation of just what the heck this means?

"Manas applied for senatorial election but lacked a key candidacy qualification."

hmm and what might that be? Abuse power? check Profit from misery? check Lack any moral compass? check maybe not willing to share enough of the loot would be my guess, but there could be so many other "qualifications" he could have lacked....

[DM07]

...but...but...but...I don't understand?
Didn't they all say, that no one from the police or military was involved in trafficing?

Does that mean they didn't really invest?

...or...even...lie???

[thousandpercent]

It doesn't get any more evil than slave trafficking and the suffering, torture, murder, and rape that goes with it. If found guilty this general should be executed.

No slaves were trafficked. The real crimes are horrible, but by exaggerating you trivialize the case making it difficult to take seriously.

[Tatsujin]

manas is only one of many he is one link in the chain of command the police are also involved and only time will tell sooner or later the whole chain will be broken and the big boys will all come tumbling down.

No, won't happen ... the real big boys higher up the ladder profiting from this won't come tumbling down, they're too well insulated, only the less higher ups will be given up as sacrificial lambs, and there won't be many of them either.

[wabothai]

all of this cracking down only to satisfy the finger pointing nations.

Spineless !!!

[wowfactor10]

Gosh wonder how when they spin this to be blamed on the Taksin clan..