DSI arrested an alleged offender, in transnational human trafficking case, luring Cambodian workers into forced labor on fishing boats in Malaysian territorial waters

DSI arrested an alleged offender, in transnational human trafficking case, luring Cambodian workers into forced labor on fishing boats in Malaysian territorial waters

       In response to the government’s policy prioritizing the prevention and suppression of human trafficking, the problem highly prioritized by various countries due to its violation of rights, liberty and human dignity, and catastrophic damage to the societal structure and economic system, the DSI seriously and continuously suppresses human trafficking problems, particularly the transnational human trafficking involved by Thailand or Thai nationals.

       On Fridays, April 30, 2021, under the supervision of Pol.Lt.Col.Korrawat Panprapakorn (the Director-General), Pol.Lt.Col.Supat Thamthanarug (a Deputy Director-General), Pol.Maj. Siriwish Chantechasitkul (the Director of Human Trafficking Crime Bureau), and Pol.Lt.Col.Jukkrit Visetketgarn (the Director of Special Operation Bureau) led officials of the Human Trafficking Crime Bureau’s Human Trafficking Crime Division 3 and the Special Operation Bureau’s Surveillance and Intelligence Center to arrest a 45-year-old Thai male, the boat owner wanted under the Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the offence of conspiring to commit human trafficking offence by jointly illegally exploiting from forced labor on fishing boats.

       The said arrest is the operation in the special case no.14/2019 (the case of Cambodian labors tricked into forced labor on fishing boats in the territorial waters of the Federation of Malaysia). This case, in 2015, Cambodian labors entering to seek employment in Thailand were lured by a Cambodian broker to work on a fishing boat, while they drifted to the fish market port in Samut Prakan Province. The broker claimed that it was a comfortable job with a monthly salary. After agreeing to work as told, they were delivered into the boat owner’s care brought them into dreadful working conditions. They never received wages while working on the boat but their identity documents were confiscated. Moreover, they were not only forced to work on many fishing boats in the territorial waters of the Federation of Malaysia, but detained, unable to reach the shores for 2 years by the boat captain. They also were forced to work all day long with only 4 hours of sleep and without food if they did not finish their work. They were physically assaulted and repeatedly harassed by the boat captain (pour water in his food plate, etc.) When they told the captain that they wanted to quit the job, the captain didn’t allow them to. In February of 2017, the Malaysian Police patrolled the area and found that the fishing boat’s permit was expired. Therefore the boat docked at the Tanjung Manis Port, Federation of Malaysia, where the Cambodian labors escaped and later requested help from the International Justice Mission (IJM) Foundation. The DSI accepted the case as a special case and its special case inquiry officials jointly inquired and collected evidence with a public prosecutor as it is an offence under the Thai law committed outside the Kingdom of Thailand, which led to the request for the aforementioned arrest warrant from the Criminal Court.

Dated, May 4, 2021