By CS Thana
BANGKOK
A Thai general implicated at the heart of a Southeast Asian people trafficking ring has been suspended without pay, an official confirmed Thursday.
Army Chief Udomdej Sitabutr told a press conference that Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen has been suspended by the army for his alleged roll in trafficking Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
The Rohingya are among the thousands of migrants who have washed ashore or been rescued by fishermen, after human smugglers abandoned their boats amid a regional crackdown, sparked by Thailand
Udomdej added that the army was following legal protocol and would follow proceedings closely.
He added that if Manas was found innocent, he would be reinstated and receive back pay.
General Kongpaen turned himself in last week after courts approved a warrant for his arrest. He was accused by prosecutors of being a key component in the smuggling of refugees from Myanmar fleeing persecution.
Kongpaen was a senior adviser to the Royal Thai Army, and himself once oversaw human trafficking investigations in Thailand's south.
Thai officials have been implicated by rights groups as colluding with human smugglers praying on the majority Muslim Rohingya as they flee persecution described by some human rights groups as "state sponsored" in Myanmar.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya have left Myanmar attempting to reach Muslim majority Malaysia and Indonesia on crammed boats. The journey has exposed them to human traffickers who charge a premium to smuggle them through Thailand.
The traffickers have frequently been holding the Rohingya at temporary camps within Thailand to demand ransoms from their families back home.
If no ransom is paid, the refugees are often beaten and/or killed.
It was the discovery of one such camp May 1 that prompted the Thai junta to clamp down on trafficking networks and routes, sparking an international crisis as thousands of refugees became stranded in trafficking boats, unable to land in the country.
Many of the estimated 7,000 Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis on the boats have been taken in - albeit temporarily - by Indonesia and Malaysia, but Thailand has not offered to house the migrants, its navy instead turning the vessels back to sea after providing them with food and water.
Since the crackdown began on the networks, over 47 local village officials and police officers have been charged in aiding the network.
So far, the junta has obtained 71 arrest warrants for human trafficking suspects from the courts.
Kongpaen is the highest-ranking person arrested so far.
Others arrested under human trafficking charges are police officers, local officials and a former president of Satun provincial administration organization, Pajjuban Angchotiphan, considered "a human-trafficking kingpin."
Satun is on Thailand’s forested border with Malaysia, where many of the smugglers' detention camps have been found.
Kongpaen has denied all charges and asked the public to wait until all facts are revealed before they judge him.
