Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Leaders of infamous human trafficking gang arrested in southern Thailand

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 04:59 AM PDT

Thai authorities in the last week have rounded up three leading members of a Burmese human trafficking gang responsible for selling hundreds of their fellow countrymen into slavery and murdering dozens of people.

According to the Burmese embassy in Bangkok's labour attaché Naing Htun, combined forces from the Royal Thai Police and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) nabbed the group's leader Ko Myo last week after capturing one of his top aides on 31 July.

Another of the gang's henchman was reportedly arrested on Tuesday, while officials continue to search for an unidentified Burmese national associated with the outfit.

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The notorious human trafficking and racketeering group are believed to have been behind approximately 40 murders and operated around the ports in Trang province's Kantang district. The area serves as a major hub for Thailand's massive fishing industry, which employs thousands of Burmese migrants many of whom are believed to have been trafficked and sold into captivity.

"Ko Myo, the human trafficking ring leader, was shot and captured alive at a rubber plantation in Surat Thani during a raid by combined forces from Thai government departments including the Royal Thai Police's Anti-Human Trafficking Division and the [Thailand Ministry of Justice's] Department of Special Investigation," said Naing Htun, who accompanied the officials during the raid.

"Previously, the [authorities] arrested one of his aides and they managed to find out [Ko Myo's] whereabouts following a trace from his mobile phone."

Ko Myo was later held in custody at Surat Thani hospital where he was being treated for a gunshot wound in his buttock, which he received after trying to evade arrest. The 42-year-old Burmese national from Kawa township in central Burma's Pegu division has been living in Thailand for 18 years.

According to the report, "Sold to the sea: human trafficking in Thailand's fishing industry" by the Environmental Justice Foundation, more than a dozen trafficking victims in Trang province's Kantang district who were interviewed by the group's research team identified Ko Myo as the area's primary trafficker responsible for the torture and murder of individuals who attempted to escape from captivity.

"[Ko Myo's ring] trafficked an estimated 700 people from Burma into Thailand and sold them to fishing boats and he apparently killed those who refused to be sold. The murders were committed at his home and on the boats. He kept the blood stains of his victims on his house's wall as well as the ropes he used to hang them with dangling from the ceiling to show as example for the newcomers," said Naing Htun.

"His gang also raped and murdered a Karen girl and dumped her body in the sea. The body was later recovered and his aide confessed to taking part in her killing along with Ko Myo."

According to the director of the Myanmar Association in Thailand Kyaw Thaung, Ko Myo operated with near impunity for more than a decade because of his connections with local authorities, including a former Thai immigration official who had "adopted" the suspect.

"He was registered as an adopted son of a former Thai immigration official and this status allowed him to be more ruthless. According to testimonials from migrants in the area, he made about 800,000 baht per month [trafficking] migrants at the port," said Kyaw Thaung.

Following the rapid expansion of Thailand's economy in the 1990s and 2000s, the Kingdom has relied largely on foreign migrants to fill manual labour positions in the country's construction, agriculture and fishing sectors.

According to EJF, Thailand's seafood industry employs more than 650,000 people and in 2011 the sector's exports were valued at US$7.3 billion.

Impoverished migrants arriving near southern Thailand's coastal hubs are especially vulnerable to falling victim to schemes were human traffickers pose as job recruiters and end up selling individuals to boat captains, where they are subjected to beatings and forced labour and detention.

In the US State Department's 2013 trafficking in persons report published in June, Thailand was placed on the Tier 2 watch list for its fourth year. Thailand will be subjected to an automatic downgrade in 2014 if the country fails to address the growing scourge.

 

Police arrest villagers during pre-dawn raid on monastery in Monywa

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 01:38 AM PDT

Officers from the police force's special intelligence department, commonly known as special branch, arrested and beat locals from a village near the controversial Latpaduang copper mine in Monywa district during a pre-dawn raid on a Buddhist monastery on Tuesday.

Arlawka, abbot of the Zeetaw village's Chanmyaywadi monastery, said about two dozen special branch officials in civilian garb stormed the monastery around 2 am and used excessive force to detain four villagers who were in the process of preparing meals for monks ahead of the week's Buddhist lent festivities.

According to the abbot, the special branch agents handcuffed and beat four locals:  Maung Too, Tin Linn, Pho Kalar and Ye Htet Aung.

"The police officers told them to lay against floor and they handcuffed them before proceeding to kick them in the back of their heads and slapped and kicked them in the face," said Arlawka.

But as police entered the monastery, locals sounded an alarm alerting their fellow villagers who then went on the attack against the officers, which allowed Pho Kalar and Ye Htet Aung to escape.

"Residents in the village started [triggering an alarm by] banging metal poles and setting off firecrackers and proceeded to chase after them," said the abbot.

"Then the [police], as they were chased by the mob, fired about 10 shots. They made off with two of the villagers."

The monk said the police likely raided the monastery in retaliation to the villagers' stubborn refusal to relocate and make way for the nearby Latpaduang copper mine, which is reportedly responsible for the confiscation of about 7,800 acres of farmland and displacement of farmers from 66 villages.

"They were here to arrest us knowing that this village is not well-protected and they wanted to crack down on us for resisting relocation and force us to give in," said Arlawka.

"Those people are not rebels – they are peasants and there were no charges against them. Everyone is worried for their safety because they might get beaten up in detention."

Last November, Burmese police made international headlines following a raid on protestors camped out near the mine in Monywa. During the pre-dawn assault, riot police dispersed the demonstrators with water cannons and incendiary devices, which left more than 100 protestors with serious burns.

According to an independent investigation carried out by the Lawyers' Network (Myanmar) and the US-based Justice Trust, Burmese riot police used incendiary devices containing white phosphorous to disperse the protestors.

-Additional reporting contributed by Aye Nai

Former rebel leader returns to Burma to mark 8888 anniversary

Posted: 05 Aug 2013 10:39 PM PDT

Former members from the All-Burma Students’ Democratic Front are returning to Rangoon to commemorate the mass demonstrations against Ne Win's dictatorship that were violently suppressed by the military 25 years ago this month.

At Rangoon's international airport on Sunday, the former rebel leader Moe Thee Zun received a hero’s welcome as he arrived.

Moe Thee Zun led the ABSDF for several years following the military's brutal crackdowns on student protestors in 1988. He later moved to the US, where he has remained a strong voice in the Burmese exile community.

During an interview with DVB, the former rebel leader said returning to Burma for the anniversary would be bittersweet.

“In the past, we were never able to commemorate the event,” said Moe Thee Zun.

“The 8888 anniversary was always marked on a more local scale. Memorial services took place in prisons, in jungles and in exile. This time around, everyone will get together.”

The former ABSDF chairman went on to say that while he appreciated the changes that are taking place in the country, but he pointed out that Burmese citizens had paid a high price for the nascent reforms taking place in the country.

“I am sad that for 25 years we have had to make huge sacrifices for this day to come”, he said.

“A lot of our comrades have fallen in the struggle for democracy. There were a lot of sacrifices, and I feel sorry for those comrades.”
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