Police raid house, arrest five illegal migrants, one trafficker
IMMIGRATION police in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district yesterday raided a rented house that they said was allegedly occupied by a human-trafficking ring, and arrested one Thai suspect and five Myanmar men, who were waiting to be taken to Malaysia.
The pre-dawn raid of the house in Tambon Pasemas saw suspect Jehbaka Jehmudo, 30, taken in, while the five Myanmar men aged between 19 and 25 were found with passports that had expired.
Jehbaka reportedly confessed that he had been hired to rent a house on behalf of two Myanmar traffickers, identified as Yi and Sri, to shelter Myanmar workers waiting to be smuggled into Malaysia.
The suspect was charged with harbouring illegal migrants, while the five men were charged with staying in the country illegally. Police are now looking for Yi and Sri, and will check to see if this group is linked to the other South-based human trafficking gangsters wanted for trafficking Rohingya and other migrants.
Separately, seven senior police officers in Sam Kwai Pheuk Police Station in Nakhon Pathom’s Muang district were transferred to inactive posts over the case of 14 workers from Laos rescued from a chicken and pig farm. The immediate transfer makes way for an investigation to see if these officers neglected their duties.
This case emerged on August 22, when a worker escaped with a friend and alerted the police of illegal detention and forced labour at the farm, which lead to the rescue of others. The farm owner, who is also a local bank branch manager, Chaidech Sonuch, 55, was subsequently arrested.
This case also led to a police check on all instances of forced labour or use of illegal migrants in farms and other establishments in the province.