Children in danger
Human trafficking suspected as youngsters go missing in Tak's Mae Sot district
Every month, a few children go missing from the Muslim Community in Mae Sot district in what clearly are cases of human-trafficking.
According to local community leaders, these children are sent to Bangkok, Nakhon Sawan and even Malaysia to be beggars, workers and prostitutes.
Some children are stolen, others are lured away. Some are sold.
"Some parents sell their own children," Thongsuk Khamveera said. He is the vice-chairman of the Muslim Community's board.
"Look around Mae Sot and you see how perpetrators exploit the children. Some mothers rent out their babies for Bt20 a day. Other women want to carry the babies while begging for money because this arouses sympathy from unsuspecting people," he said.
Thongsuk was now preparing to submit a petition to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont calling for help in preventing human trafficking and other crimes in his community.
"Most perpetrators are aliens," he said.
In the community, some houses host about 10 alien families who pay the combined rent of Bt1,000 to Bt2,000 a month. Many of them reported carrying fake passports.
Thongsuk complained that his community was once a happy settlement but that changed after the influx of aliens. He said the number of aliens in his community now even exceeded the number of Thai locals, who are forced to live with the problems that relevant authorities rarely pay attention to.
"We suspect that some government officials are involved in the human trafficking," the community leader added.
He said thefts also took place on a daily basis.
Wisoot Sunthorn, a board member of Muslim Community, said the problems from alien residents had been aggravated during the past few years.
Because the town was located close to the border, people from Burma could easily sneak in and blend into the community. Even though a few hundred are deported every day, this many people are believed to slip across the border into Thailand every day.
Local resident Panee Panmini, 45, said her 11-year-old son disappeared on February 16 and she was terrified about what has happened to him.
"I don't know what has happened to him. I have been pleading with the police to help," she said.
Chaithai Raksachart, manager of World Vision Foundation of Thailand, said some alien parents suffered the same problem but were too afraid of attracting police attention to report their children's disappearance. These aliens entered Thailand illegally.
Mamijee, 50, said one of her sons went missing when he was less than six years old.
"But I am afraid of the police. I just reported to the community board. Till now, I haven't heard anything about him," she said tearfully.
According to her, several children go missing from the community every month. Ten days ago, one of her neighbour's children was among them.
Chaithai said most trafficked children from Mae Sot were forced to beg for money in Bangkok.
"In one case, a boy was forced to beg for money. If he earned less than Bt200 a day, the gangsters punished him with an electric shock," he added.
He said the foundation was trying to end the problem, but its efforts were insignificant given the sheer scale.
"There are many human-trafficking gangs. Besides, some parents very obviously are selling their children. We have been able to help some children but they ask not to be returned to their parents," he said.
An informed source said some trafficking gangs had even contacted a local centre for displaced persons to supply them with children.
"Each child is sold for between Bt4,000 and Bt5,000. These human traffickers then bribe police officers who will personally check their vehicles at the checkpoint and allow them to go undetected by other officers," the source said.
Mae Sot Police Station's deputy superintendent Lt Col Ampon Wongyai said police recently arrested a Burmese man of Arakan descent on charges of human trafficking.
"We are investigating the case further," he said.
Anan Paengnoy
The Nation
Tak
