General among 72 indicted over human trafficking

The move comes after vast people-smuggling networks unravelled in May when thousands of migrants were abandoned in open waters and jungle camps by traffickers following a Thai crackdown, a crisis that eventually forced a Southeast Asia-wide response.

Thailand has long been accused of ignoring official complicity in the multi-million dollar trade, which had until recent months flourished through its southern provinces and onto Malaysia – the desired destination of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

A spokesman for the Office of the Attorney-General said yesterday it had issued an order to indict 72 people charged on 16 counts mostly over human trafficking, including more than a dozen state officials of all levels.

“We will not let influential people rise above justice,” Wanchai Roujanavong told reporters at a press conference in Bangkok. The charges include human trafficking, involvement in international crimes, taking and bringing illegal migrants and malfeasance.

“The Office has given priority to the issue – as it is a big group of people involving international systems. It has caused a lot of damage to the country as dead bodies were found,” Wanchai said, in regard to the grisly discovery of dozens of graves in abandoned traffickers’ camps along the border with Malaysia that sparked the trafficking crackdown.

A court in Songkhla province, where the graves were found, was due to process the indictments late yesterday.

Among the suspects is Lt-General Manas Kongpan, charged with being a kingpin in the lucrative trade. His alleged involvement raises awkward questions for junta chief Prayut Chan-o-cha, who has repeatedly justified his coup last year as a much-needed antidote to graft that he says flourished under a series of elected civilian governments.Manas was promoted while Prayut was Army chief.

He remains the only military officer charged with complicity in people smuggling, an issue that has raised eyebrows among rights groups, who say it is unlikely such an influential officer would have acted alone.

None of the suspects will be bailed, Wanchai added, while a further 47 suspects – mostly Thais but also including Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals – are still on the run. Around 4,500 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were stranded in Southeast Asian waters in recent months, with countries reluctant to accept them until finally landing ashore on Malaysian, Indonesian, Bangladeshi, Myanmar and Thai soil.

Thai police say they have dismantled the trafficking network throughout the Kingdom. But rights groups are waiting for the end of the monsoon season in a few months to see if boats again set sail south from Myanmar and Bangladesh or if new trafficking routes emerge.