7 arrested for human trafficking
Seven of the 10 people wanted in connection with a fishing vessel detained last year in neighbouring Malaysia with 44 Thai crew on board were arrested yesterday.
They were nabbed in six raids carried out in Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi and Chanthaburi, police said. Those arrested were five illegal job brokers, one fishing boat owner and a boat captain wanted by the authorities in 16 arrest warrants, said Pol Gen Roy Inkhapairoj, deputy national police chief. The other three suspects are still at large, he said.
A background check found the boat captain had previously been charged in a human-trafficking case although he was not indicted and was later released. The illegal job brokers in 2018 had been prosecuted in a human trafficking case but returned to their old pattern of offending after they were discharged from jail, said Pol Maj Gen Wiwat Khamchamnan, chief of the AntiTrafficking in Persons Division.
Most victims of the human-trafficking gang were people coming from the provinces in search of jobs in Bangkok, he said.
These illegal job brokers normally found their victims at Hua Lamphong train station or Mor Chit bus terminal, offered them help and jobs, and brought them to a house in Nonthaburi where they were provided with food as well as drugs, he said.
The victims later transferred to an unregistered fishing vessel that operated in Malaysian territorial waters, he said. The longest time these Thai workers were found to have been forced to work on the vessel was 26 months. While at sea, they were paid only 1,000 baht once for their labour, he said.
The brokers, meanwhile, were each paid up to 50,000 baht per worker they found and supplied to the gang, said Pol Gen Roy.
While onboard the vessel and working every day, these workers were only allowed to rest for about four hours a day, he said. Anyone who disobeyed the captain’s instructions was beaten up, said Pol Maj Gen Wiwat, adding that some workers who could not stand the cruel treatment jumped to their death in the sea.