NEWS reports said a three-star Thai army general Manas Kongpan has been arrested for his alleged involvement in human trafficking of Bangladeshi nationals and Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims into Malaysian through the sea and Thai jungles. The General was acting as an adviser to Thai Army in Bangkok immediately before his arrest. The Thai government action appears highly praiseworthy although belated after thousands of lives were lost in the jungle camps including Bangladeshi nationals in degraded situation. The Thai government crackdown would at least give solace to their families now that decisive actions are under way to stop the dreaded trafficking; which has already dented the image of Thailand as a peaceful Buddhist nation. It is really appreciable that the Thai government and the army in particular has vowed not to interfere in the legal process, which is missing in many countries while dealing with persons lined to powerful state institutions.
It appears that the Thai government’s crackdown followed after global outcry about involvement of the huge government machinery in the south in the trafficking. Not only local police, politicians, businessmen and villagers on Thai-Malaysian border were accused for their complicity, the Thai central government equally came under global scrutiny for sheltering the traffickers and tolerating the brutal exploitation of the poor people in their desperate attempt to safety and security out of poverty.
Lt General Manas Kongpan involvement in trafficking became public during a raid of the home of a key suspect. Law enforcers found bank transaction slips in that home showing him as the recipient of a large amount of money in connection with human trafficking. He received the money when he was the commander of the Upper South Province of Somgkhola in 2013 where he was responsible for security along the Malaysian border heading a huge intelligence network. As part of the crackdown the Thai government has so far issued 84 arrests warrants with 51 suspects detained including traffickers, businessmen and local officials.
It must be said that, like the Thai government, the Malaysian government is also cracking on local officials including police officers who have sheltered the human trafficking. They are accused of killing of thousands of innocent poor men, women and children, as pert of cross border traffickers syndicates. This is a crime against humanity and they must also be prosecuted under criminal laws of the respective countries. But question arises at the same time as to what action the government of Myanmar and Bangladesh are taking to arrest the culprits and put them on trial. Because no human trafficking can take place without direct support from powerful quarters and complicity of the officials including security personnel as the Thai and Malaysian incidents showed. In Bangladesh, arrest of some individuals were made but to many it looks like eyewash. The powerful syndicates are beyond the touch. Bangladesh must learn from Thai and Malaysian efforts if the government is really serious to root out the human trafficking network.
It appears that the Thai government’s crackdown followed after global outcry about involvement of the huge government machinery in the south in the trafficking. Not only local police, politicians, businessmen and villagers on Thai-Malaysian border were accused for their complicity, the Thai central government equally came under global scrutiny for sheltering the traffickers and tolerating the brutal exploitation of the poor people in their desperate attempt to safety and security out of poverty.
Lt General Manas Kongpan involvement in trafficking became public during a raid of the home of a key suspect. Law enforcers found bank transaction slips in that home showing him as the recipient of a large amount of money in connection with human trafficking. He received the money when he was the commander of the Upper South Province of Somgkhola in 2013 where he was responsible for security along the Malaysian border heading a huge intelligence network. As part of the crackdown the Thai government has so far issued 84 arrests warrants with 51 suspects detained including traffickers, businessmen and local officials.
It must be said that, like the Thai government, the Malaysian government is also cracking on local officials including police officers who have sheltered the human trafficking. They are accused of killing of thousands of innocent poor men, women and children, as pert of cross border traffickers syndicates. This is a crime against humanity and they must also be prosecuted under criminal laws of the respective countries. But question arises at the same time as to what action the government of Myanmar and Bangladesh are taking to arrest the culprits and put them on trial. Because no human trafficking can take place without direct support from powerful quarters and complicity of the officials including security personnel as the Thai and Malaysian incidents showed. In Bangladesh, arrest of some individuals were made but to many it looks like eyewash. The powerful syndicates are beyond the touch. Bangladesh must learn from Thai and Malaysian efforts if the government is really serious to root out the human trafficking network.
