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Boatpeople Being Ransomed Off Bangladesh as Traffickers' Pipeline is Severed

Wednesday, May 20, 2015
PHUKET: The horror of human trafficking through South East Asia has taken another nightmarish twist with passengers now being ransomed to return home to Bangladesh, say reliable sources.

Human cargoes had been loaded on board as many as 16 vessels, ready for delivery to the Thai-Malaysia border, when Thai authorities finally exposed scores of graves near the traffickers' secret jungle camps earlier this month.

Cutting off the huge illegal trade in people left thousands stranded at sea by the no-go nations, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia - plus thousands more stuck on boats off Bangladesh.

The adapted trafficking trawlers would usually pick up more passengers - some coming on board voluntarily, others coerced or kidnapped - as vessels cruised south past Burma's troubled Rakhine state to Thailand.

However, with a crackdown and the dangers of apprehension suddenly much greater, the traffickers at anchor off Bangladesh have chosen to unload their human cargoes - while making as much money as possible.

''A return-to-shore fee of several hundred dollars is being demanded by some traffickers, even though the vessels are anchored just a short distance from land,'' Phuketwan was told.

''The brutality is the same as it would be if the journey had been completed. Passengers will be beaten up within earshot of their families over a mobile telephone.

''Instead of paying to reach their destination in Malaysia, these poor people now have to pay a fee to return home.''

With as many as 16 boats at anchor each capable of carrying 350, more than 2000 captives could be subjected to this process.

After the exposure by Phuketwan of the inhumane ''pushbacks'' from Thailand in 2009, the trade in Rohingya from Burma grew rapidly.

Traffickers expanded their business to Bangladesh, paying touts to sell ''tickets to your new life'' or to coerce or even kidnap others to fill every available space.

There were few arrests and little enforcement, with the Royal Thai Navy and other authorities ''helping on'' vessels with food, water, motor repairs and medicines to keep Bangladeshis and Rohingya at sea and out of Thailand.

Boats carrying thousands of would-be refugees managed to evade contact at sea and on land as they were secretly transferred hundreds of kilometres by road from Thailand's Andaman coast, north of Phuket, to the jungle camps along the Thai-Malaysia border.

Over the years, successive governments in Thailand ignored reports by Phuketwan and other news outlets of traffickers' rapes, brutality and even murders, allowing the covert business to grow.

Villagers along the Andaman coast and further south joined in, knowing the chances of getting caught and punished were virtually non-existent.

These days, more than 50 percent of the traffickers' captives are Bangladeshis. An estimated 25,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya boarded traffickers' boats in the first three months of this year, twice as many as in the same period of 2014, the UN refugee agency has said.

Now, even with the full extent of the horrific trade exposed, the nations of the region continue to deny responsibility and still protect Burma, the nation where it all began - and where it should end.

Fifteen nations including Bangladesh are due to meet to discuss trafficking in Bangkok on May 29 but Burma may not be there.

Comments

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Dear Ed

These are ghastly stories but they have to be told.

Posted by Ian Yarwood on May 20, 2015 11:10

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I think the big problem for the Asean countries is the half of them are economic migrants.
No denying the rohingya being treated badly by the Burmese government and Buddhist people (Buddhist in name only if that's how they treat people) also where is the Nobel peace winner now been very quiet although her family do have a reputation for changing sides

Posted by Michael on May 20, 2015 12:16

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I couldn't agree more with Michael. Aung San Suu Kyi is supposed to be a key & vocal opposition leader. Does her silence mean she condones these reprehensible Myanmar tactics to drive out the Rohingya? I never fully understood why she got the Nobel prize in the first place other than for being a cosseted prisoner in her own home. Icons shouldn't be awarded such prizes; people of action should.

Posted by Logic on May 20, 2015 17:42

Editor Comment:

There are few people in Burma who have not been conditioned to hate Rohingya. Even people who are reasonable in every other respect have this blind spot. Aung San Suu Kyi may just be another one.

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A horrible story. Anything the UN and the UNHCR are able to do??

Posted by Kurt on May 20, 2015 19:30

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"There are few people in Burma who have not been conditioned to hate Rohingya. Even people who are reasonable in every other respect have this blind spot."

Perhaps they are "reasonable" in every other area of life, but with all due respect - if they've been "conditioned," hating Rohingya is probably not be the sole "chink"
in their armour.

For many, I would suspect it's the thin edge of the intolerant wedge.

Posted by farang888 on May 21, 2015 00:42

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I was very disappointed to read in international newspapers that Nobel Price Winner Aung San Suu Kyi became a non verbal politician as she not want to comment on the horrible boat people drama. She just commented that boat people were not forced to 'depart'. Not exactly a expected comment. Seems she is not that much opposition leader. She remains remarkable quiet. Disappointing.

Posted by Kurt on May 21, 2015 06:37

Editor Comment:

As we have said, there is no reason to believe Aung San Suu Kyi is any different to the bulk of Burmese who are conditioned to a racist outlook on Rohingya. For a long time, as the Nobel winner visited foreign lands, we suggested journalists ask her the key question: Are all Burmese racist? Nobody ever did.

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Should read transcripts from interviews when aung San sui kyi went to pick up her Nobel peace prize
"I don't know" was her first answer and then a statement about border control and illegal immigrants.
Seems to follow the official line, which is also the same racist outlook as the majority in Myanmar who are burman and account for 60% of the vote.

Ask any policeman if ignorance of the law is an excuse. Would say her party are not ignorant of what is happening they are kowtowing to the majority in Myanmar. Her father the founder of modern Burma was quick enough to change sides from the Japanese to the British in world war two, which gave rise to the Burman people basically taking over the government army and civil service. So whether she is racist or politically motivated she is not taking the same stance as when she was under house arrest that called for freedom and unity of all in Burma.

Posted by Michael on May 21, 2015 09:03

Editor Comment:

The rules on Rohingya changed in 1982, so she's has no input on making them stateless . . . and no input on making them citizens. This is a vote-winner.


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