The Star Online, Petaling Jaya :
The mass grave of Rohingya refugees found in Songkhla recently was uncovered through unprecedented cooperation and effective use of high-end technology, said an anti-human trafficking body.
The international group, Freeland Foundation, said close cooperation between the police and NGOs with the use of telephone forensics technology had enabled investigators to detect and catch members of the international human-trafficking syndicate responsible for the burials and kidnappings.
In January, the foundation was roped in to assist the Thai police with technical assistance in the form of analysing phones seized from suspected traffickers.
The request had followed the police’s discovery of a new systematic kidnapping scheme targeting the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
“What is impressive about this case is that it started with local police, not specialized federal cops.
“And these local police reached out immediately for technical assistance and cooperation, which led to quick progress,” Freeland director Steven Galster said in a statement Thursday.
He said the breakthrough in the case and the discovery of the mass grave demonstrated Thailand’s performance in battling transactional syndicates, despite its previous denials about Rohingyas being trafficked into the country.
For three months, Freeland helped police analyse numbers extracted from the traffickers phones.
Using that telephone data, police were able to generate an “i-2 telephone link chart” which allowed detectives to narrow their investigation.
The data eventually led them to zoom in on Myanmar national Soe Naing Anwar and some of his Thai connections.
On Tuesday, Thai police announced the arrest of Anwar and two politicians from Southern Thailand.
Investigators had previously learnt that the traffickers’ modus operandi included sending a large boat into Myanmar each month, where they would go on land to lure some 300-400 Rohingyas in Rakhine with the promise of jobs in Thailand.
Once the boat was full, it would make its way to the port of Ranong, Thailand, where trucks operated by the traffickers would load the Rohingyas and take them to Songkhla.
They were then placed in large safe-houses akin to detention camps, and would be divided into sections.
Section one would be for those who had relatives and friends in Thailand, while section two would consist of those who did not. “Section 1 members would each be told to telephone their friends and family and ask them for the equivalent of USD$3,000 (RM10,767) or more in exchange for their freedom.
The mass grave of Rohingya refugees found in Songkhla recently was uncovered through unprecedented cooperation and effective use of high-end technology, said an anti-human trafficking body.
The international group, Freeland Foundation, said close cooperation between the police and NGOs with the use of telephone forensics technology had enabled investigators to detect and catch members of the international human-trafficking syndicate responsible for the burials and kidnappings.
In January, the foundation was roped in to assist the Thai police with technical assistance in the form of analysing phones seized from suspected traffickers.
The request had followed the police’s discovery of a new systematic kidnapping scheme targeting the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
“What is impressive about this case is that it started with local police, not specialized federal cops.
“And these local police reached out immediately for technical assistance and cooperation, which led to quick progress,” Freeland director Steven Galster said in a statement Thursday.
He said the breakthrough in the case and the discovery of the mass grave demonstrated Thailand’s performance in battling transactional syndicates, despite its previous denials about Rohingyas being trafficked into the country.
For three months, Freeland helped police analyse numbers extracted from the traffickers phones.
Using that telephone data, police were able to generate an “i-2 telephone link chart” which allowed detectives to narrow their investigation.
The data eventually led them to zoom in on Myanmar national Soe Naing Anwar and some of his Thai connections.
On Tuesday, Thai police announced the arrest of Anwar and two politicians from Southern Thailand.
Investigators had previously learnt that the traffickers’ modus operandi included sending a large boat into Myanmar each month, where they would go on land to lure some 300-400 Rohingyas in Rakhine with the promise of jobs in Thailand.
Once the boat was full, it would make its way to the port of Ranong, Thailand, where trucks operated by the traffickers would load the Rohingyas and take them to Songkhla.
They were then placed in large safe-houses akin to detention camps, and would be divided into sections.
Section one would be for those who had relatives and friends in Thailand, while section two would consist of those who did not. “Section 1 members would each be told to telephone their friends and family and ask them for the equivalent of USD$3,000 (RM10,767) or more in exchange for their freedom.
