98 Rohingyas, two human traffickers arrested in Thailand

BANGKOK, January 11 (TNA) - Police in Thailand’s southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Sunday arrested two alleged Thai human traffickers and 98 Rohingyas travelling in pickup cars, including many women and children who were in weak condition. Police said three other alleged traffickers were able to escape during the arrest. The Rohingya victims were later sent to a hospital in Hua Sai district in the province. A girl reportedly died due to starvation and exhaustion. For a long time, the traffickers admit they have picked up Rohingyas from the southern resort province of Phangnga before sending them to Songkhla province and were never caught. Police at Hua Sai district said trafficking gangs have now switched their escape route from the previous Andaman Coast to the opposite Gulf of Thailand in a bid to escape police arrest. Many Rohingyas had left their native Rakhine State on the western coast of Myanmar for fear of persecution. (TNA)