Rescued Cambodian siblings being closely monitored
Play
A 10-year-old Cambodian boy and his six-year-old sister are being closely monitored by welfare officers after Patong police rescued them from human traffickers on Thursday.
“The children are now safe in one of our shelters,” said Sirumporn Komonsanao, director of the Department of Social Development and Human Security office in Phuket. “We will talk to them again on Monday about what is going on, and that may lead us to more suspects.”
“We are afraid the kids will be threatened by other people in the gang who have yet to be arrested. We believe there are more of them,” she told the Phuket Gazette yesterday.
Police secured a warrant and arrested three suspects at an unregistered house on Phisit Gorani Road at about 5.30pm, said Patong police Deputy Superintendent Khunnadet Nanongkhai.
The three were named by police as Thai national Wichai Thongmee, 20, and Vietnamese women Moon Chum, 31, and Lay Thee Hong Em, 50.
“They have all been charged with human trafficking, and with child abduction and gang-related deprivation of liberty against minors,” Colonel Khunnadet confirmed. The raid in Patong followed a tip-off from a non-government organisation in Chiang Rai, said Sirumporn.
“When some of the NGO’s members saw the two Cambodian children selling flowers in Patong, they informed police. So the NGO and the police worked together until they made the raid,” she explained. Colonel Khunnadet said his officers were continuing their investigation in the hope of arresting more suspects from thetrafficking gang.
