DSI, Myanmar Embassy and related agencies rescued Myanmaese labourer detained for forced labour in a Jelly factory, Lat Phrao District

DSI, Myanmar Embassy and related agencies rescued Myanmaese labourer detained for forced labour in a Jelly factory, Lat Phrao District

       From the request by the Labour Attache` of the Embassy of Myanmar to Thailand desiring the DSI to rescue 11 Myanmese labourers being detained and forced to work in a jelly factory located in Lat Phrao District, the Director-General Pol.Lt.Col. Korrawat Panprapakorn therefore ordered the Bureau of Human Trafficking Crime to urgently rescue the aforesaid Myanmese labourers.

       Today, Wednesday, January 27 2021, a Deputy Director-General Pol.Lt.Col. Supat Thamthanarug, overseeing the Bureau of Human Trafficking Crime, ordered Pol.Maj. Siriwit Chantechasitkul (the Director of Human Trafficking Crime Bureau) and his deputy Pol.Maj. Arit Tatsaphan to joined forces with officials from the Department of Employment, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, the Royal Thai Police’s Immigration Division 1, the Chok-Chai Metropolitan Police Station, and the Embassy of Myanmar to Thailand with the Director of Lat Phrao District Office for searching the target area under the power prescribed in Section 98 (2) and (3) of the Foreigner’s Working Management Emergency Degree, B.E. 2560 (2017) and its amendment, observed by the IJM Foundation, at a house number 59/18, Soi Lat Phrao 6, Lat Phrao Subdistrcit, Lat Phrao District, Bangkok. The aforesaid house is a jelly factory, 3 story high with the steel gate at the front of the house locked from outside. The officials informed the place’s owner to opened the gate but no one answered. Subsequently, 3 males and 1 female Myanmese labourers climbed down from the third floor of the building. From preliminary questioning, these labourers were detained and forced to work from 07:00 – 24:00 hrs. and not allowed to leave the factory. The other 12 labourers were still inside the factory. However, later on the place’s owner allowed the officials to search inside the factory. The owner of the factory is Miss. Laksamon Wibullaksanakul aged 22 years. The result of search found 18 Myanmese labourers, 2 labourers are children aged 16 and 17 years. The officials then took all Myanmaese labourers to the Chok-Chai Metropolitan Police Station and informed the interdisciplinary team for victim identification.

       Subsequently, at 14.00 hrs. Pol.Maj. Arit Tatsaphan (the Bureau Deputy Director) and Pol.Capt. Asanee Rodnoy (the Head of Human Trafficking Crime Division 1) met with Pol.Maj.Gen. Nanthachart Suphamongkhon (an Advisor to the Minister of Labour), the inquiry official of the Chok-Chai Metropolitan Police Station, the Director of Lat Phrao District Office, and the officials from the Social Development and Human Security Office, the Immigration Division 1, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, and the Department of Employment for discussion about the assistance process for the aforesaid Myanmese labourers.

Dated January 27, 2021,