Thai police to prosecute abandoned migrants

Thailand will prosecute nearly 200 Myanmar Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims for entering the country illegally, police said Thursday.

Authorities detained the migrants during a recent crackdown against human trafficking.

In the last two weeks, Thai police have rounded up more than 250 individuals following the discovery of dozens of graves in secret jungle camps allegedly run by human traffickers.

Many Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were abandoned in desperate conditions in the remote southern jungle bordering Malaysia after traffickers fled.

"Police have already indicted 187 on illegal entry charges ... so those cases are being processed now," deputy national police chief Aek Angsananont told Agence France-Presse from southern Thailand.

He added that a committee of officials and police were scrutinizing whether 63 others are victims of human trafficking.

Rights groups have long urged Thailand to offer asylum to Rohingya migrants fleeing persecution in western Myanmar, an initiative Bangkok has so far resisted. 

Those caught being smuggled through Thailand are usually arrested for illegally entering the country and taken to detention centers where they languish, sometimes for years. 

Some have been deported back to the Myanmar border where rights groups say they routinely fall again into the hands of traffickers.

In recent months, Thailand has said what they call genuine victims of human trafficking — as opposed to economic migrants — will not be prosecuted. 

But the authorities have not yet made clear whether asylum or permanent sanctuary will be offered. 

Authorities have been at pains to show Thailand is serious about tackling human trafficking after years of accusations that they turn a blind eye to — and are even complicit in — the trade.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have braved the dangerous sea crossing to southern Thailand from Myanmar in recent years, with many headed for Malaysia and beyond.

Many die at sea, but large numbers end up in camps across southern Thailand where traffickers demand up to $3,000 from relatives and friends for their release.

Thailand's crackdown appears to have disrupted that trade, with smugglers abandoning migrant-filled vessels at sea, some of which have washed up on the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days. 

Agence France-Presse