YANGON: The Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) arrested four suspects and rescued seven young Myanmar nationals from a house in Bangkok while investigating allegations that children were brought into Thailand and forced to sell flowers.
A deputy director-general of DOPA led the department’s special operations unit, DOPA S.W.A.T., to the house in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 122, Saphan Sung district, with arrest warrants. The operation was named “Protecting Rosebuds”.
DOPA had received public complaints alleging that suspects brought children from Myanmar to sell flowers, food and drinks at tourist destinations in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.
The Thai Mai Thon group received a complaint from a Myanmar national who had escaped from the Soi Ramkhamhaeng 122 house.
The complainant alleged being forced by the suspects to sell flowers at nightlife venues and subjected to rape and physical assault. Volunteers from the group contacted DOPA’s special operations unit.
Investigators alleged that young people were forced to sell flowers on Khao San Road and Nuan Chan Road from early evening until about 4am every day, receiving 10 baht per bunch.
According to investigators, the suspects brought young people from Myanmar through unofficial border crossings in Mae Sot district, Tak province, before taking them to Bangkok. The suspects had rented the Soi Ramkhamhaeng 122 house for more than two months.
Officials identified two of the four people arrested as Oranuch Piwi and a man named Ukrit. Investigators said Oranuch held a pink identification card, while Ukrit held a card with an identification number beginning with zero.
The seven young Myanmar nationals rescued from the Soi Ramkhamhaeng 122 house were taken to Bang Chan police station for screening by a multidisciplinary team, including officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and psychologists.
Officials planned to take the young people rescued from Soi Ramkhamhaeng 122 to the Kredtrakarn Protection and Occupational Development Centre in Nonthaburi after the screening process.
Officers extended the operation to a relative’s house in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 120 after the suspects disclosed another rented property.
A woman who identified herself as the owner of the Soi Ramkhamhaeng 120 house said five young people lived there and had come from Mae Sot district in Tak. The woman acknowledged that some sold orange juice in the evenings after school, while denying that she had ever taken them to sell flowers elsewhere.
Officials requested cooperation to search the Soi Ramkhamhaeng 120 property and found young people inside. Checks on their documents for entry into Thailand were continuing. - The Straits Times/ANN
