Dozens of Bangladeshis shipped into Thailand in order to be sold as slaves have been rescued from a jungle in the Southeast Asian country.
Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:27AM
Dozens of Bangladeshis shipped into Thailand in order to be sold as slaves have been rescued from a jungle in the Southeast Asian country.
The men were promised well-paid jobs, but they were drugged, abducted and sent to Thailand by a boat, the BBC reported on Friday.
Senior Thai government and police officials in Bangkok are reportedly seeking to imprison more than 170 slave victims as illegal immigrants and prevent their return to their home country.
Thai authorities deny accusations that they have been “dragging their heels” on the issue of slave trade, saying that Bangkok is working to resolve the issue.
According to official figures released by Thailand’s Foreign Ministry, about 270 Bangladeshi nationals have been sent back home over the past few months.
The slave trade is said to be well-established in Thailand’s southern part, with influential figures having a hand in it, which causes police unwillingness to tackle the problem.
The development comes three days after two Thai men were detained on charges of human trafficking. The arrests were made after 53 foreign workers, coming from Bangladesh and Myanmar, were found in southern Thailand.
In March, Human Rights Watch urged Thailand to look into its navy’s alleged role in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country’s independence in 1948. The Myanmar government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims.
SSM/HSN/HRB