Dozens Found Guilty in Thailand in Human-Trafficking Case
The defendants included a high-ranking officer, Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpan,
and Pajjuban Aungkachotephan, a businessman and former politician, as well as police officers and smugglers from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand.
By RYN JIRENUWAT and RUSSELL GOLDMANJULY 19, 2017
BANGKOK — A court in Thailand convicted dozens on Wednesday of organizing a human-trafficking ring that enslaved hundreds of people.
Investigators said the victims were from Bangladesh or Myanmar — many of them Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority —
and had paid smugglers to help them find work in Thailand.
Judges at the Criminal Court in Bangkok held a lengthy session on Wednesday to announce the verdicts,
and many relatives of the defendants were crying as the verdicts were read.
Many victims were found buried in a mass grave near a secret jungle camp in which they had been imprisoned, tortured and held for ransom.