Thai authorities acknowledge indifference and even complicity in human trafficking in the country by police and other officials, reports Reuters. More than 50 Thai police officers have been punished over suspected links to human trafficking networks, the country’s police chief said on Thursday, after the prime minister ordered a probe into the discovery of trafficking camps near the Malaysian border.
Thirty-three bodies, believed to be migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, have been found in shallow graves over the past week in the southern province of Songkhla. Some of the bodies were found at a suspected human trafficking camp hidden deep in the jungle. Local police commanders were aware of the operations, Chief of Royal Thai Police General Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters. He was in Bangkok to discuss efforts to crack down on the illicit trade.