Smugglers to face extra charge
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All 49 suspects detained for allegedly smuggling Rohingya and other migrants will be charged with transnational racketeering on top of several human-trafficking crimes, police said yesterday.
A key suspect, Pajjuban “Ko Tong” Angchotephan, faces the most charges at 12, said Pol Maj-General Pawin Phongsirin, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9.
He did not give details on the charges filed against Ko Tong and the 48 other suspects.
Besides those already in custody, 28 suspects are still on the run out of all 77 people wanted on arrest warrants.
All of the Rohingya and other migrants will be charged with and prosecuted for illegal entry unless granted refugee status after a follow-up inquiry into their reasons for travelling abroad, said General Chatchalerm Chalermsuk, Army chief of staff.
Thailand-based associations of Rohingya are under investigation. Their founders had to have obtained Thai citizenship to make their organisation’s operations legal.
Thailand now has 779 new migrants of various nationalities including Rohingya after the discovery of holding camps this month and the crackdown on the trade in humans conducted by Thais, Chatchalerm said.
