Thai cops nab couple linked to Wang Kelian mass graves

BANGKOK: On the heels of Teddy Teow’s arrest in July, a couple on the run from crimes in Malaysia has been captured in Thailand.

A Myanmar man and his Thai wife who were allegedly involved in a human trafficking syndicate linked to transit camps and mass graves found in Perlis’ Wang Kelian in 2015 were arrested in Bangkok on Thursday.

Thailand’s assistant national police chief, Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn, said the 55-year-old man and his wife, who were carrying Malaysian passports, fled from Thailand to Kuala Lumpur in 2015 and changed their names to escape their criminal past and evade police detection.

“The husband and wife admitted that they had changed their names. However, they declined the charges, including trafficking of the Rohingya, pressed against them (in 2015),” he told a press conference here.

Bernama reported that Surachate said arrest warrants were issued to the couple for human trafficking and money laundering in 2015.

“The couple were involved in trafficking Rohingya from Rakhine in Myanmar and transiting through Thailand before entering Malaysia. They were also laundering money through their tour bus company,” he said.

Surachate thanked Malaysian police for their cooperation in getting the couple arrested, adding that to date, Thai police have issued arrest warrants to 153 individuals, including Thai army officers and local officials who were allegedly involved in human trafficking in 2015.