Archive : South East Asia

The Appeals Court yesterday sentenced a Myanmar national to 14 and half years in jail, and gave 13 and a half years to his two accomplices in a human-trafficking case. The three men were found guilty of forcing their compatriots to work on fishing boats for no pay. The three men had initially been sentenced to 19 years and 16 years in jail respectively.

At least six Malaysia-bound Filipinas were rescued from a suspected human trafficking ring after authorities intercepted their vessel off Palawan province. The six Filipinas, with ages between 27 and 37 were aboard a boat when they were intercepted off Bancalaan village in Balabac town, radio dzBB's Palawan affiliate James Viernes reported on Wednesday.

IOM is today hosting a four-day workshop in Beijing for senior Chinese counter-trafficking police and immigration officials to strengthen mechanisms designed to protect and assist victims of human trafficking. The training, which is being attended by over 30 central and provincial officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security and Civil Affairs, is part of IOM’s "Capacity Building for Migration Management (CBMM) in China" project.

Malaysia and Bangladesh will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat human trafficking between the two countries so that innocent people are not exploited, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. "The MoU will be signed soon after both countries create a mechanism at the operational level whereby political will between Malaysia and Bangladesh can be translated into an action plan involving the respective authorities," he said.

A Thai man has been arrested in Bangkok for his role in a human-trafficking ring that sent three Thai women to Japan last year, police said Friday. The three women, rescued by police in Nagano Prefecture last September, told authorities that Chakraphan Wacharaphin, 55, had arranged travel documents and air tickets for them to work in a restaurant in Japan. However, after arriving in the country they were forced into prostitution instead, according to the chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Division of the Royal Thai Police.

Sherdali Mohd Ali, a man convicted at the Intermediate Court last year for human trafficking, had his appeal against the sentence dismissed by the Court of Appeal yesterday. The Intermediate Court on January 27, 2011 sentenced the Malaysian national to serve four years and six months in prison after he was found guilty.

Pol.Maj.Gen. Chawalit Sawangpuech Commissioner of Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) said that they had arrested Mr. Rom San 50-years-old and Mrs. Pad Sarn 36-years-old, Cambodian citizens for human trafficking and illegal immigration. They were with charged with abducting his ex wife’s son to become a beggar.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Davao has provided psycho-social intervention to 23 human trafficking victims since January, this year. DSWD records also showed that 12 of 23 trafficked people were sexually exploited. The DSWD is the head of the psycho-social unit of the Regional Inter Agency Council against Trafficking Integrated Action Network (Riaction).

Patrons only needed to press the lift's emergency bell three times to gain entry into a spa-cum-brothel at a hotel in the Sri Damansara Industrial area here. The brothel, which occupied the first two floors of the building, had an elaborate security system. It also had a cramped air-conditioned room to hide its sex workers whenever the authorities raided the premises. On Saturday, a police team from the Anti-Trafficking in Person Unit busted the brothel's operations and detained 10 people, including five foreign women.

Thirty-five Laotian workers and a Thai national were arrested in Nakhon Nayok Monday while the workers hid in two pickup trucks trying to return to their home country, and 39 Cambodian workers were intercepted at Aranyaprathet while trying to enter Thailand under false pretenses. In Nakhon Nayok, Uthai Saengchompou was apprehended with 15 Lao men and 20 Lao women — including four under 18 years old, according to the Thai Police Department’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD).