Thailand probes trafficking of Rohingya Muslims

BANGKOK - The Associated Press

Rohingya minority children look out through a window of a bus after they were rescued by Thai authorities in Songkhla province, southern Thailand on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. Nearly 700 boat people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority were rescued from alleged human traffickers in two separate raids near Thailand?s southern border, Thai authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Sumeth Panpetch)

Thailand’s army is investigating allegations that Thai security officials are involved in trafficking refugees from Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims ethnic minority to a third country, authorities said Tuesday.
 
More than 800 beleaguered Rohingya were found in raids in Thailand’s southern border province of Songkhla this month after fleeing sectarian violence in western Myanmar that has killed hundreds of people and displaced some 100,000 more since June.
 
Thai police arrested eight trafficking suspects after one of the raids and are searching for three others, including an influential local politician. Thai media reported over the weekend that at least two senior military officers were involved in the trafficking network.
 
“If any army or government officials are found to be involved in human trafficking, they will be prosecuted,” said Maj. Gen. Dittaporn Sasasmit, spokesman for Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command.
 
Thai authorities say the refugees were believed to be heading for Malaysia. They have been charged with illegal entry and their fate is unclear. Human rights groups have called on the Thai government not to repatriate them to Myanmar, where they would face wide discrimination.
 
The probe followed a demand by the army’s commander-in-chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who said Monday that he opposes setting a permanent refugee camp for the Rohingya in Thailand.
 
Thailand was widely criticized in 2009 when its navy intercepted boats filled with Rohingya and sent them back to the sea. Hundreds are believed to have died when the boats later sank.
 
The United Nations estimates the Rohingya population in Myanmar at 800,000, but the Myanmar government does not recognize them as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups.