| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai trafficking investigator seeks asylum in Australia |
| 2015-12-11 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] Thailand's former chief police investigator into human trafficking said on Thursday he is seeking political asylum in Australia, saying he fears for his life if he go home. Former Major General Paween Pongsirin arrived in Melbourne a few days ago on a tourist visa and said he planned to seek political refuge, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "There must be some place, some safe place for me," he said in an interview with the broadcaster. "I came here because Australia is a safe place." Paween quit the police in November saying an order to transfer him to Thailand's south would expose him to Dire Revenge by members of trafficking syndicates still on the lam. National police chief Jakthip Chaijinda said at the time Paween could have asked for protection but chose to resign instead. "We issued 153 warrants across all areas and that included government officials ... I had to do just my duty, not to think of danger or trouble, but now I realise how dangerous it was," Paween said. Thailand has indicted 88 people suspected of involvement in human trafficking since launching a nationwide investigation into gangs following the discovery in May of 30 bodies in graves buried near the Thailand-Malaysian border, which prompted an international outcry. They were the sites of trafficking camps where victims -- mainly from Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority and Bangladeshi economic migrants -- were held in appalling conditions, many awaiting ransom payments from relatives for their release. The kingdom's pivotal role in the trade emerged in May as people-smugglers abandoned thousands of migrants at sea or in jungle camps after a Thai crackdown. Thai officials are accused of orchestrating smuggling routes through the south of their country to neighbouring Malaysia, raking in huge sums of money over several years. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 seeking political asylum in Australia, saying he fears for his life if he go home Somewhere, sometime, somebody must standup and be badder than the banditos or we are lost. |
| Posted by: Sloluth Protector of the Weak7539 2015-12-11 15:24 |