International News

BANGKOK, July 19 (APP/AFP) – A Thai general is among
more than 100 defendants facing a verdict Wednesday in a sprawling 2015 human trafficking case which saw thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants abandoned at sea and in jungle death camps.
Thailand’s junta launched a crackdown in May that year on a
multi-million-dollar network running migrants through southern Thailand and
onto Malaysia.
It unspooled a crisis across Southeast Asia as gangmasters abandoned
their hungry and desperate human cargo in jungle camps and at sea in overcrowded boats which were then “ping ponged” between Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian waters.
Rights groups long accused officials of ignoring — or even
orchestrating — the trade in humans through Thailand’s southern provinces.
The belated crackdown revealed a lattice of military, political and
local mafia players soaking up cash from impoverished migrants.
Bangkok Criminal Court is due to begin reading verdicts for 103
defendants on Wednesday morning in what is expected to be a lengthy hearing.
They are accused of offences spanning human trafficking, ransom and
murder — a charge that can carry the death penalty.
Army Lieutenant-General Manas Kongpan, a powerful figure in the
security apparatus covering the south, is the highest-ranking official on trial.
He denies the charges.
The crisis emerged after Thai officials uncovered dozens of shallow
graves in hidden camps dotting the steep hills along the Thai and Malaysian border area.