CrimeThailand

Royal Thai Police to investigate 29 officers for suspected ties to labour trafficking

Photo via Facebook/ Kanchanaburi News

At least 29 police officers are being investigated for suspected involvement in labour trafficking. The Royal Thai Police Headquarters has appointed a committee to investigate the officers, a source told Nation Thailand. The national police deputy chief will oversee the investigation.

Border patrol has reportedly been heightened over the past year due concerns that migrants who are entering Thailand illegally, evading quarantine and checkpoint screening, could potentially import Covid-19 to Thailand. Fingers pointed at undocumented Burmese workers following the December outbreak at a fishing hub in Samut Sakhon where the virus spread among migrants who lived and worked in crowded conditions.

Back in December, the Royal Thai Army admitted that they cannot keep people from crossing the around 2,000 kilometre Thai-Myanmar border and authorities shifted their focus from cracking down on migrants crossing the border to catching the labour traffickers.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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Tanutam Thawan

Local Thai journalist speaking fluent Thai and English. Tanutam studied in Khon Kaen before attending Bangkok’s Chulalongkhorn University.

4 Comments

  1. Why is this not a surprise and why is it not 290 or 2900 RTP officers under investigation? I have lived in third world countries for decades but never have I come across a police force so brazen about requiring bribes, er sorry tea money, to do their basic jobs. When the head is rotten the whole fish smells. And this fish is beyond fermented.

  2. @Ian Bromley – You’re right. Every cog is liberally lubed and the grease flows uphill in Thailand. Every cop has expenses to meet. Like a mafia family every member has to ‘earn’ or be demoted. ‘Want a good beat ‘ pay the official above you. Want a cruiser, pay upstairs. Want a promotion, pay for it. Want to be a general, it’s expensive and lucrative.

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