Thai general among 72 indicted over human trafficking

Bangkok

More than 100 people including an army general were charged by the state prosecutors in Thailand in a multinational human trafficking scandal  which was brought to light when dozens of bodies were discovered in the countrys’ south earlier this year.

The sweeping investigation, in which 15 Thai state officials were implicated, began after 36 bodies, believed to be those of migrants from Burma and Bangladesh, were exhumed from abandoned jungle camps near the Thai-Malay border in May.

Ninety-one Thais, nine Burmese nationals and four Bangladeshis face 16 charges, including human trafficking, partaking in a transnational crime network, and assisting or bringing aliens into the kingdom illegally.

“The investigation showed it is a big syndicate. There were networks that brought them [the migrants] from overseas into the country systematically … The office of the attorney general, therefore, treats it as a very important case,” office spokesman Wanchai Roujanavong said.

Provincial prosecutors had pressed charges against 72 arrested suspects and were waiting to proceed with 32 others who remained at large, he said.

The discovery has intensified international pressure on Thailand to crack down on smugglers. More than 50 people were arrested in a month, including local politicians, government officials, police, and a senior-ranking army officer who once oversaw human trafficking issues in the south.

Human rights groups have long accused Thai authorities of collusion in the trafficking industry, but officials have routinely denied the claims. About 50 police officers in the southern provinces were removed from their posts and investigated for possible involvement in trafficking syndicates.