THAI POLICE BUST HUMAN TRAFFICKING RING; 57 WOMEN AND GIRLS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 000956

SIPDIS

UNCLASSIFIED

SIPDIS

DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB - MMITTELHAUSER; BSASSER STATE FOR G/TIP,
EAP/MLS, DRL/IL, PRM/PRP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN KCRM ELAB PHUM KJUS TH
SUBJECT: THAI POLICE BUST HUMAN TRAFFICKING RING; 57 WOMEN AND GIRLS
RELEASED


1. (U) Summary. Thai Immigration Police have detained a ring of 13
traffickers and released 57 brothel workers in multiple raids that
took place from January 19-31 in southern and central Thailand. Of
the 57 workers, at least 25 have described themselves as victims
forced into prostitution. Eight victims were around 15 years of
age. The raids were all linked to the escape of a Cambodian woman
who was found last November near the Malaysian border after fleeing
from a brothel. The woman directed police to the brothel, and
subsequent surveillance and monitoring of bank accounts led to a
much broader investigation, which revealed a network extending to
the Cambodian border. The anti-money laundering law will be applied
to seize the ring's sizeable assets. The financier of the ring, who
is still at large, is reportedly a major land owner. Warrants are
out for the arrest of five other Thai and Cambodian traffickers from
the same gang. End Summary.


2. (U) In an interview with Thai immigration police in Bangkok,
Emboffs learned the details of a series of raids that exposed a
large trafficking ring and released 57 prostitutes from several
brothels. The trafficking ring was exposed when one of its victims
escaped from a brothel (masquerading as a karaoke bar) in Padang
Besar, Songkhla province, near the Malaysian border. The Cambodian
woman was found injured by cigarette burns on November 21, 2005.
She turned to a Thai NGO, the Center for the Protection of
Children's Rights (CPCR),which contacted the Ministry of Social
Development. Immigration police then raided the brothel on January
19, 2006, releasing six more prostitutes and arresting four
traffickers.

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A FAMILY AFFAIR
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3. (U) While detained, one of the four traffickers attested that the
brothel's procurer was a Cambodian man, Sompon, whose payments were
transferred to his stepfather's account and managed by his mother.
Sompon allegedly brought women and girls to a two-story wooden house
in Lopburi, for the price of 6,000 baht (USD 150) per head. Sompon
also is alleged to have provided transport along trafficking routes
from Aranyaprathet (on the border with Cambodia) to points south on
the way to Hat Yai, a possible transit point to Malaysia. According
to police, money was transferred through Siam Commercial Bank to
Samutprakan, a province near Bangkok, into the account of his Thai
stepfather, Song Charam. Sompon's mother, also Cambodian, is
believed by police to have been the ring's financial manager. Money
then flowed to three bank accounts belonging to two Thai men and one
Thai woman, living on the Cambodian border, who have not yet been
apprehended. According to Thai police, the amount was in "hundreds
of thousands of baht." (1 USD = 40 baht)

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FIVE MORE RAIDS FIND 8 TRAFFICKERS AND 50 WOMEN AND GIRLS
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4. (U) After discovering the brothel in Padang Besar, immigration
police carried out five more raids in central Thailand. Three raids
in Lopburi on January 25 turned up no victims, apparently due to a
leak, but one trafficker was arrested. All of these houses had
small rooms with outside locks, and there was clear evidence of the
prostitution trade, including 100,000 baht (USD 25,000) in cash. On
the same day in Saraburi, one trafficker was arrested and three
women were released from a local brothel. On January 31, a large
raid occurred in Cha Choengsao, in which seven traffickers were
arrested and 47 prostitutes released. Of these 47 prostitutes, 25
are identified as trafficking victims: 17 attested that they were
captured and forced into prostitution, and another eight of the
workers were about 15 years old. Their ethnicities are a mixture of
Cambodian, Lao, Burmese, and Shan (from Thai hilltribe villages).


5. (U) Song Charam, alleged to be a major financier of the ring, is
still at-large, as are five of his Thai and Cambodian associates.
The anti-money laundering law will be applied to seize their sizable
assets, including a number of forfeited houses, businesses, vehicles
and land deeds. These assets will be placed in a criminal assets
fund. There are no provisions in Thai law to redistribute these
assets to the victims. However, civil lawsuits by the victims
against their traffickers might be pursued.


6. (U) Comment. This latest TIP bust is more evidence that
traffickers in Thailand are redirecting their efforts towards Hat
Yai in Songhkla province, which is alleged by the RTG and
international NGOs to be a growing transit point for destinations
elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The head of this investigation, Police
Colonel Kraiboon Suadsong - Commander of Bangkok Immigration Police
Division 1, reports to Deputy Police Commissioner Gen. Amnouay
Phetsiri and has been responsible for several of the police's
successful anti-TIP investigations in recent years. End Comment.