Burmese Police extorted and tortured the deported migrant workers

Independent Mon News Agency

June 18, 2004

Burmese Police based in Three Pagoda Pass interrogated and asked for money from migrant workers who are deported back from Thailand. “If the migrant worker can’t pay the amount they asked, they are tortured” said a migrant worker who was deported on yesterday.

Recently even the government media MRTV and MRTV 3 reported the government would help the migrant workers as much as possible, but the Three Pagoda Pass polices just asking money from them and also seized the belongings said by the migrant worker.

“We, eight people, were forced to stay under heavy raining for three hours after we couldn’t pay to the police officer at the police station,” said Soe Than, a migrant worker.

“After the police at the station released us to go back, while we get into Burma a bit, a Burmese police check-point asked 25 Baht per head from us, but we didn’t have any money,” Soe Than added.

Everyday before the weekend Thai immigration trucks carry about a hundred of Burmese migrant workers to Three Pagoda Pass border point for deportation.

As Thai authorities are intensively involving for the arrests of Burmese migrant workers, there were three rounds of deportation to Three Pagoda Pass and about three hundreds of Burmese migrant workers were deported this week.

According to a local witness U Sein Hlaing, “ the Burmese police officers gathered all of the migrant workers and interrogated one by one. Some migrants’ belongings - money, clothes, gold, and others - were seized.”

“Some migrant workers were also brought to the Burmese immigration office and were asked for more money,” he added.

In Three Pagoda Pass, the Burmese regime’s several departments interrogate and extort money from those migrant workers. The departments which involve in extortion are: police station; immigration office; army battalions and subordinated groups such as militia force, veteran polices and soldiers.

These departments are not only interrogating and extorting from the deported migrant workers, they also extorted money from thousands of migrant workers who try to enter to Thailand, as most of them have to stay in the border area temporarily.

The officials from the departments also involve in human trafficking business like Burmese Military Intelligent (MI) joins with traffickers for their pocket money or extra income although signboards of preventing trafficking are separate in town and villages.

According to the migrant workers, the Burmese immigration officer in town also issue legal permission pass with payment 500 Kyat per head for migrant workers who tried to enter to Thailand across Three Pagoda Pass town.

“If you do not pay they do not allow you to cross into the town,” Ko Htwe a migrant worker, currently who is in Bangkok said.

Local people in Three Pagoda Pass town said, some police officers also involve as human traffickers for deported migrant workers to re-enter into Thailand again.

For more information contact Independent Mon News Agency [email protected]

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