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Long-necked tribe 'tricked into liv



Subject: Long-necked tribe 'tricked into living in human zoo' 

The Times (London) 

October 21, 1999, Thursday 

 Long-necked tribe 'tricked into living in human zoo' 

BYLINE: Andrew Chant in Bangkok 


MORE than 30 long-necked tribespeople were lured from their settlement in
the hills of Kayah State in
Burma by Thai businessmen who took them to a remote spot in northern
Thailand and made them build
a "human zoo", a Thai court was told yesterday. 

"They were promised that they were being taken to see their relatives at a
refuge in Mae Hong Son,"
said Andrew Drummond, correspondent for the The Times in Bangkok. "But
instead they were put in
trucks by a man named Eddie and taken to the village of Baan San Ton Du,
where they were told to
build authentic bamboo huts and live in them for the benefit of tourists." 

Mr Drummond identified Eddie as Rakkiat Sri Siriwilai, an employee of Thana
Nakluang, a newspaper
publisher and proprietor of a hostess karaoke bar. He said he investigated
the human zoo after reports
of a business dispute involving the long-necked Padaung people appeared in
the Thai press. 

"The local press did not report fully on what had happened," he said. "They
did not mention that of the
Padaung more than 20 were children or that they had been lured from deep
within Burma. 

"I went to visit Mae Hong Son to investigate because the long-necked
families had been tricked into
believing they were being taken to their relatives in refugee camps there.I
was played two cassette audio
tapes - the tapes consisting of singing laments and pleas for help to be
rescued made by the captives ... 

"They said they were being held against their will, could not go anywhere,
there were no schools or
doctors and that one woman had already died." 

Thana Nakluang and Rakkiat Sri Siriwilai are charged with illegally
detaining the Burmese nationals for
their tourism show. 

The human zoo was closed by the Thai Government in March last year after
reports in The Times. 

The owner of the camp, Thana Nakluang, denied detaining the tribespeople. 

The case continues. 



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