Officials deny involvement in Rohingya trafficking
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The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has firmly dismissed an allegation that its officials were involved in the trafficking of Rohingya people.
“We have already launched a probe and found that none of the department’s officials belongs to human-trafficking gangs,” the department’s director-general, Manopat Huamuangkaew, said yesterday. He admitted, however, that Rohingya had been hidden away in some parts of the Mu Koh Tarutao National Park.
Phuket Immigration Police chief Pol Colonel Sanchai Chokkhayaikij yesterday said he had dispatched two 10-man teams to recapture the 21 absconding Rohingya, out of the 36 who had escaped detention on August 10. Detention rooms were being strengthened to prevent future escape. He said 15 of the escapees had been arrested and charged for escape from a detention room, which is punishable with a jail sentence of up to two years and/or Bt20,000 in fine.
