PHUKET: A Royal Thai Navy warship intervened in a sea chase north of Phuket today as undercover police on one fishing trawler pursued and fired upon a second fishing trawler.
The drama in the sea off Ranong province came just two hours after police in a province further south apprehended five pickup trucks carrying 98 Rohingya boatpeople, including 46 children and 26 women.
One woman was found dead in the tray of a pickup, thought to have been crushed to death by the weight of others lying on top of her to try to hide from authorities.
The tragic death of the woman, aged about 30, and the shots fired at sea mark the latest efforts to transform a covert policy that has for several years allowed human trafficking to flourish in secret rather than compel officials to halt the lucrative and inhumane trade in people through Thailand.
Observers were surprised at the large number of women and children captured in the ambush on the pickup truck convoy in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The families were being held tonight by local officials. Their fate will be decided in the next day or so when they are either declared illegal immigrants or human trafficking victims.
Three of the five drivers in the pickup convoy fled. The crushed woman was speedily buried by local Muslims, in accordance with traditional practice.
One surprise today was the extensive Thai media coverage in television and newspapers of both the capture of the Rohingya families and the dramatic chase at sea.
Efforts appear to be being made to persuade the US State Department that Thailand's position in Tier 3, the bottom level of the Trafficking in Persons report imposed in 2014, is no longer warranted.
In the dramatic chase at sea off Ranong, the captain of the fishing trawler had no idea that he was being ordered to halt by undercover police, who were on another trawler.
''I thought they were pirates,'' the captain, Tongbai Kamtong, 46, told reporters, explaining why he ignored the orders to halt - and the rifle shots that spattered the paintwork on his vessel, Baramee Por 9.
His six Burmese crew plunged overboard and swam off to alert other fishing vessels that pirates were attacking.
The first one to be pulled ashore another trawler called on the boat's captain to alert the Royal Thai Navy to intervene, and the HTMS Si Racha put to sea immediately.
After it had been established that the pursuing vessel from which the shots were fired was actually manned by police, there was a sense of relief . . . and mystification.
The bullet-riddled vessel's owner, Pisit Peachlehiri, told the media later that he wouldn't have expected his crew to react differently.
''The police have no reason to shoot at genuine fishing boats,'' he said, reporting the incident to Kuraburi Police Station, north of Phuket in Phang Nga province.
''The crew had no idea police were on board the other vessel.''
The captain said it was well-known that police sought bribes from people who transferred Rohingya from Burma to Thailand by sea.
Police in Ranong usually operate at least one patrol boat that looks similar to a Royal Thai Navy vessel, one of several naval forces along the Andaman coast.
A media conference is to be held at Ranong Police headquarters on Monday. The governor had given permission for police to carry out a covert operation on fishing trawlers, a police spokesperson said.
The recent treatment of other boatpeople further north in Phang Nga leaves the fate of the men, women and children who were apprehended today unclear.
Despite indications that they are human trafficking victims, the 53 boatpeople apprehended at Takuapa on January 5 have been accepted as stateless Rohingya, but classified as illegal immigrants, not human trafficking victims.
The decision means that all of the group, including a small number of children, are being held at Takuapa prison.
Once the boatpeople have spend 20 days in prison to work off the 4000 baht fines they were unable to pay, they will begin indefinite detention in Thailand.
Some groups have previously been held for two years or more to discourage others from seeking sanctuary.
The drama in the sea off Ranong province came just two hours after police in a province further south apprehended five pickup trucks carrying 98 Rohingya boatpeople, including 46 children and 26 women.
One woman was found dead in the tray of a pickup, thought to have been crushed to death by the weight of others lying on top of her to try to hide from authorities.
The tragic death of the woman, aged about 30, and the shots fired at sea mark the latest efforts to transform a covert policy that has for several years allowed human trafficking to flourish in secret rather than compel officials to halt the lucrative and inhumane trade in people through Thailand.
Observers were surprised at the large number of women and children captured in the ambush on the pickup truck convoy in the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The families were being held tonight by local officials. Their fate will be decided in the next day or so when they are either declared illegal immigrants or human trafficking victims.
Three of the five drivers in the pickup convoy fled. The crushed woman was speedily buried by local Muslims, in accordance with traditional practice.
One surprise today was the extensive Thai media coverage in television and newspapers of both the capture of the Rohingya families and the dramatic chase at sea.
Efforts appear to be being made to persuade the US State Department that Thailand's position in Tier 3, the bottom level of the Trafficking in Persons report imposed in 2014, is no longer warranted.
In the dramatic chase at sea off Ranong, the captain of the fishing trawler had no idea that he was being ordered to halt by undercover police, who were on another trawler.
''I thought they were pirates,'' the captain, Tongbai Kamtong, 46, told reporters, explaining why he ignored the orders to halt - and the rifle shots that spattered the paintwork on his vessel, Baramee Por 9.
His six Burmese crew plunged overboard and swam off to alert other fishing vessels that pirates were attacking.
The first one to be pulled ashore another trawler called on the boat's captain to alert the Royal Thai Navy to intervene, and the HTMS Si Racha put to sea immediately.
After it had been established that the pursuing vessel from which the shots were fired was actually manned by police, there was a sense of relief . . . and mystification.
The bullet-riddled vessel's owner, Pisit Peachlehiri, told the media later that he wouldn't have expected his crew to react differently.
''The police have no reason to shoot at genuine fishing boats,'' he said, reporting the incident to Kuraburi Police Station, north of Phuket in Phang Nga province.
''The crew had no idea police were on board the other vessel.''
The captain said it was well-known that police sought bribes from people who transferred Rohingya from Burma to Thailand by sea.
Police in Ranong usually operate at least one patrol boat that looks similar to a Royal Thai Navy vessel, one of several naval forces along the Andaman coast.
A media conference is to be held at Ranong Police headquarters on Monday. The governor had given permission for police to carry out a covert operation on fishing trawlers, a police spokesperson said.
The recent treatment of other boatpeople further north in Phang Nga leaves the fate of the men, women and children who were apprehended today unclear.
Despite indications that they are human trafficking victims, the 53 boatpeople apprehended at Takuapa on January 5 have been accepted as stateless Rohingya, but classified as illegal immigrants, not human trafficking victims.
The decision means that all of the group, including a small number of children, are being held at Takuapa prison.
Once the boatpeople have spend 20 days in prison to work off the 4000 baht fines they were unable to pay, they will begin indefinite detention in Thailand.
Some groups have previously been held for two years or more to discourage others from seeking sanctuary.
Bumbling incompetence on all levels. Shame on Thailand for allowing this continued injustice on the most basic human scale. Also, the police are right at the hub of this illegal trafficking. Forget about the US or any other country lifting the sanctions against Thailand for human trafficking. The only recourse available to Thailand is to deal severely with every one of the heartless and greedy criminals involved in this activity, and to sack every last police officer and replace them with the military.
Posted by Utter Buffoonery on January 11, 2015 22:58