NEW THAI POLICE ANTI-TIP UNIT TAKES ON FIRST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 006441

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR G/TIP (M. TAYLOR),G (LAURA LEDERER),DRL/IL AND
EAP/MLS
DOL FOR ILAB - MARK MITTELHAUSER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN KCRM ELAB PHUM SOCI TH
SUBJECT: NEW THAI POLICE ANTI-TIP UNIT TAKES ON FIRST
TRAFFICKING CASES


1. (U) Summary: The commander of Thailand's new anti-
trafficking unit met with G and G/TIP officials on September
29 to outline future Thai government plans to combat human
trafficking. Police General Camronwit Toopgrajank also
recounted details of recent trafficking cases since the
creation of his unit in June, including the August arrests
of four Thais accused of trafficking a minor to the
Singapore/Malaysia border region for forced prostitution.
End Summary.


2. (U) The commander of Thailand's new anti-trafficking-in-
persons police unit reviewed recent cases undertaken by his
division, which was created in June, and outlined Royal Thai
Government (RTG) plans to "declare war on human trafficking"
in November in a manner and scope similar to its recent war
on drug trafficking. Police Gen. Camronwit Toopgrajank
leads the newly-formed Royal Thai Police (RTP) unit
designated as "Crime Suppression Division 4 (CSD)" but also
known as the "Women and Children Protection Division." The
unit currently holds 340 police officers in four sub-
divisions - one for administration and one each assigned to
cover 1) the north and northwestern provinces; 2) the
southern provinces, and 3) Bangkok and the northeastern
provinces.


3. (SBU) In a September 29 meeting with visiting senior
adviser on TIP for G, Dr. Laura Lederer, G/TIP Senior
Reports Officer Mark Taylor, and Embassy Laboff, Gen.
Camronwit said the RTG Cabinet would announce measures in
November to create a national information center on
trafficking cases linking law enforcement agencies in each
of Thailand's provinces. He said provincial governors would
also be tasked to sign MOU's with owners of all adult
entertainment venues in their districts to certify they are
free of child labor and forced prostitution, and that
government officials, including police, will be held
responsible for any future violations found. Gen. Camronwit
said the Cabinet act would be accompanied by a new
parliamentary "prevention of human trafficking and
suppression bill," which would enable law enforcers to deal
more effectively with trafficking gangs. (The draft bill,
proposed by a government committee chaired by former
attorney-general Khanit Na Nakorn, is expected to be
forwarded to parliament for further consideration at the
beginning of next year.)


4. (SBU) Gen. Camronwit then described details of several
trafficking cases that had been taken on since the unit's
creation in June. Several of the cases involved child
sexual abuse by visiting foreign citizens, the most
prominent being that of a former Australian policeman
accused of luring a Thai minor into a three-year sexual
relationship in return for shelter and education fees.


5. (SBU) Gen. Camronwit also provided written details and a
chronology of a case that was recently publicized here when
four Thais were arrested on August 23 under suspicion of
trafficking a minor girl to Malaysia and Singapore.
According to the case chronology, RTP officers were first
contacted on December 3, 2004, by a victim, now 15 years
old, who recounted being recruited by the suspects out of
Buriram, Isaan, with the promise of a bar waitress job in
Bangkok, and ended up in forced prostitution in various
worker camps on the Malaysia/Singapore border. The suspects
were named as Somchai Saising (male, 25),Patarida Promchan
(female, 34),Kanokpon Jinafeuy (female),and Rattanapon
Sutticompong (female). The girl told investigators that
after traveling to Bangkok with one of the suspects, she was
taken to the southern Thailand towns of Had Yai and
Songkhla, and then to her final destination on the
Singapore/Malaysia border via public bus.


6. (SBU) The girl told investigators that she was forced
into prostitution with as many as 10 customers a day in a
number of workers' camps in the Malaysia/Singapore border
region (listing Kelang, Yeesoon, Kalanyee, Buda, Tiger Beer,
Tuad, Limsukang and Sanghee as the principal locations).
The girl said she escaped her last camp after meeting a
sympathetic Thai customer who allowed her to use his mobile
phone to contact her family. Fleeing by taxi, the victim
said she traveled to the Thai Embassy in Singapore, which
repatriated her on September 19 of last year to Bangkok,
where she is currently recuperating in the city's Sritanya
Mental Hospital under the care of a women's health
foundation. The four suspects in the case have been
released on bail. Police attributed the eight-month long
delay in the arrests, after the case was first filed (and
almost one year after the victim's escape) to the difficulty
in locating the suspects. Gen. Camronwit's staff said they
had been coordinating on the case with Singaporean
authorities in an effort to corroborate details, naming a
"Mr. Chong, Deputy Superintendent of the Criminal
Investigations Department in Singapore," as their point of
contact.

7. (SBU) Comment: We will follow the activities of the new
anti-TIP unit closely, especially in light of the new chain
of command that is likely to emerge following the expected
October civil service reshuffle. Senior TIP supervision is
also expected to change with the coming 2006 retirement of
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gen. Amnuay Phetsiri, the
senior police official responsible for TIP. We will be
looking to see results from the new TIP unit beyond simple
MOUs, and hope that any future "war on trafficking" will not
be accompanied by the human rights violations that occurred
during the anti-drug campaign. Embassy will follow up for
further information on the Singapore/Malaysia case as it
becomes available, but we note that details of the case have
changed somewhat since it was first reported to us (among
other things, Thai police initially said the victim had been
deported by Singaporean immigration officials to Malaysia,
from where she was repatriated).