Thai police arrest ‘notorious’ human trafficking leader

Ko Myu, a 42-year-old Burmese national, was captured by police in a raid in Thailand’s Surat Thani province at the start of the month.

News of his arrest follows an investigation by Channel 4 News Asia Correspondent John Sparks, which revealed the plight of Burmese Rohingya migrants kidnapped by criminal gangs as they try to flee their home country and head to Malaysia.

The investigation (see video, below) revealed how the Rohingya were being taken to “prison camps” in the Thai jungle, where criminal gangs held them until family members paid a ransom. The investigation heard that if a ransom is not paid, the captured Rohingya were sold to Thai fishermen.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Burma, are fleeing a vicious ethnic conflict in their country’s north-west. Human Rights Watch say the Rohingya are victims of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in their home country.

Police Major General Chavalit Sawangpuech said Ko Myo’s arrest is “a very significant case.”

“This is a very significant case as Ko Myo is the leader of one of most notorious human trafficking rings in Thailand,” he said. “He is an agent with a large client base, who has abused his own countrymen on Thai soil for 10 years.”

Ko Myo is being held in custody at a hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds during the raid. He will face human trafficking charges.

Police Major Chavalit said police were also investigating his alleged involvement in the rape and killing of a Burmese woman in Thailand’s Trang province, on the Andaman coast.

Three of Ko Myo’s close aides were arrested in separate raids. All three face human trafficking charges, while two were also charged with rape and murder of the same Myanmar woman.