Three charged with luring Thais on to fishing boats in Indonesia

 

Ake said the crime fell under the category of human trafficking. Police had gathered evidence, issued seven arrest warrants and dispatched five teams to search the boat owner’s company and workers’ living quarters in Songkhla province where the |three suspects were apprehended, he said. 

They were Amorn Thongma, 50, Prawit Singlek, who is in his 20s, and Nattaya Thongma, 30, he said.

Last week, 69 Thai fishing-boat workers were brought back to Thailand after they were arrested for encroaching into Indonesian waters and detained in Pontianak, West Kalimantan province for six months. Of these, 39 were initially deemed to be victims of human trafficking.

Pavena Hongsakul, chairwoman of the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women, who brought the 39 workers to hear the progress of the probe at the police press conference, said the workers would give additional information later yesterday. 

She said police now believed that 14 workers were human-trafficking victims, while the rest didn’t get paid in full. Some of them were paid 20 per cent of what they were promised and some did not get paid at all.

Pavena said the foundation would proceed to help another batch of 13 Thais in Indonesia to return home.

Later yesterday, Pavena accompanied the 39 workers to apply for the witness protection programme and seek help at the Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD). She claimed that many especially those living in the South near alleged traffickers lived in fear of being threatened.

Narat Sawettanat, chief of the RLPD, said those entitled to join the witness protection programme must be able to prove that they were threatened, and they would have to testify in court and strictly follow the officials’ conditions. 

He said the witness protection programme would also provide allowances: up to Bt800 per day for accommodation, Bt200 per day for meals, and Bt200 per day for compensation for loss of income from work.

However, Narat said the crime of human trafficking was not yet included in the Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Case Act for financial aid. 

Meanwhile, Pornphetch Wichit-cholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly, yesterday affirmed that it had passed laws to tackle human trafficking and sex crimes against children and youth. Four or five more laws would soon be tabled for the NLA’s consideration, he said, and he believed that the global community would understand Thailand’s serious attempts to solve such problems.