Roundup: 98 Rohingya migrants from Myanmar rounded up in southern Thailand

Ninety-eight Rohingya migrants on Sunday were rounded up in southern Thailand as they were allegedly destined for Malaysia, police said on Monday.

Alongside the 98 migrants who had apparently fled southernmost Myanmar by boat were two Thai nationals who were arrested on charges of involvement in human trafficking.

Three other Thais, also suspected as human traffickers, had managed to escape on a road in Nakorn Sri Thammarat province as they were en route to Sadao district in Songkla province bordering Perlis state in Malaysia where they would have had the illegal aliens slip off from Thai territory to northern Malaysia, the police said.

The migrants had been allegedly trafficked aboard five pickup trucks from Ranong province bordering Myanmar.

The Rohinyas had apparently fled their home in Rakhine state, Myanmar where sectoral unrests have largely remained unabated.

Had the suspected traffickers not been arrested in southern Thailand, they would have had the Rohingyas travel on foot through rubber plantations and the woods on the Thai-Malaysian border to get to the unidentified destination somewhere in Malaysia, according to the police.

The 98 migrants include males, females and young children. A dozen Rohingyas were found ill and were rushed to hospital where one was later pronounced dead.

The Thais, currently detained at a police station in Nakorn Srithammarat province, were identified as Sawat Padungchart, 29, and Suthipong Chuaypat, 46.

They were believed to have trafficked each of the Rohingya migrants whom they had picked up from Ranong province in exchange for about 900 U.S. dollars in cash.

Illegal migrants might possibly be traded for cheap labor in manufacturing or fishing industry or at residential spots as well as lured or forced into prostitution in Thailand or in a third country such as Malaysia, according to the police.

Thailand has been considerably pressed by the United States and international human rights agencies to work harder in a bid to combat transnational human traffickings and has been downgraded to the so-called Tier 3 on a Trafficking-In-Persons list.

Thai Premier Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha earlier pledged to have the Thai authorities get tougher than ever against human traffickers and have government officials severely punished by law if found involved in such illegal trade. Endi