Manhunt after eight detained Rohingya escape Songkhla holding centre
Security officials launched a manhunt after eight detained Rohingya migrants broke out of their cells in Songkhla province on Monday.
The group, including a boy, climbed out of a holding centre in the province’s Rattaphum district, according to police.
Victims of human-trafficking rings, they have been held in the centre over the past months as they await a resettlement programme and deportation.
The group fled the holding facility on Monday morning and could be hiding out in a nearby rubber plantation or forested area, but officials had no clue of their whereabouts as of late evening.
Thailand is a transit point for Rohingya migrants from both Myanmar and refugee camps in Bangladesh.
They prefer resettlement in predominantly Muslim countries in Southeast Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia.
While many of them take a sea journey across the Indian Ocean, some travel overland through the Kingdom.
Thailand has no policy of welcoming them and they are charged with illegal entry if arrested in the country.