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NCGUB: News on Migrants & Refugees- 5 February, 2010 (English & Burmese)
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HEADLINES
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NEWS ON MIGRANTSPolice suspected of killing nine migrantsThai Police Suicide Linked to Karen KillingNEWS ON REFUGEESForced Repatriation of Karen Refugees to StartThai army threatens to push Karen refugees back to MyanmarThailand Must Not Repatriate Karen RefugeesUS Legislators Urge Thai PM to Halt Karen Refugee RepatriationDoor now ajar for Burmese refugeesThailand suspends Karen refugee returnOfficials interviewing Myanmar asylum-seekersThai security agencies raid Karen Information CentrePolice Warn Karen Journalists in Mae SotThai police raid Karen houses
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Police suspected of killing nine migrantsThursday, 04 February 2010 14:10 Usa Pichai
Bangkok (Mizzima) - A police officer from Phop Phra district is suspected of killingnine migrant workers, whose bodies were found last week in Thailand, after hedemanded money and they tried to flee.Pol Lt Gen Surasri Sunthornsaratun, the commander of Police Region 6 said at a pressconference in Maesot District, Tak Province that a perpetrator team led by Pol. Sen.Sgt. Maj Somchai Pinkaew, of Pob Phra district were suspected of the crime.However, Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj Somchai already died from committed suicide onJanuary 30, after he confessed his crime to commander and colleagues.“Investigations reveal that Somchai together with five others – two Yunnanese andthree ethnic Lisu were behind the killing,” Pol Lt Gen Surasri, said according to areport in the Thai news website Manager on Thursday.The bodies of the murdered Karen workers were found in two different locations intwo districts of Tak province bordering Karen State in Burma. The first four bodieswere found last Wednesday. The bodies of the first two - a man and a woman werefound in a cane field in Phop Phra district. Two others - again a man and a womanwere found in Mae Sot district. Two more bodies of women were found on Sunday ina roadside grave in Phop Phra, while three more bodies of two women and a manwere found on Tuesday on the roadside in Phop Phra.Post mortem reports reveal all nine were shot dead with .22 and.38-calibre gunsbelonging to Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj Somchai, according to Pol Lt Gen Surasri.He said the suspects asked for money from the workers but the workers ranaway. They were caught and killed. However, there is another report that suggests thesuspects wanted to ask for ransom from their relatives.Surapong Kongjanteuk, from the Human Rights Committee of Thai Lawyer’s Counciltold Mizzima that his committee has sent a lawyer’s team to the area toinvestigate and provide legal support.“Such crime has occurred before in a nearby area when six migrant workers werekilled because ransom was not paid. The case is still in the appeal court after a trialcourt sentenced a village headman to death,” he said.Relatives of the nine murdered workers, who travelled from Bangkok to identify thebodies in Tak, said most of the dead were from Karen state in Burma, across theborder from Tak. The husband of a victim told a reporter of a television channel thathe sent 8,000 baht [242 USD] to his wife for travelling to Thailand. His wife wasamong those killed.http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/3483-police-suspected-of-killing-nine-migrants.html
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Thai Police Suicide Linked to Karen KillingBy SAW YAN NAING Thursday, February 4, 2010
Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somchai Pinkaew, a police officer at Phop Phra district police stationwho admitted to being involved in the killing of nine Karen job-seekers, committedsuicide on Jan. 30, a police official said at a press conference in Tak Province onWednesday.The nine Karen job seekers were shot to death last week by a group of gunmen inPhop Phra District in Thailand's Tak Province.A village headman in Phop Phra told
The Irrawaddy
that the policeman hangedhimself to escape action against him after he was linked to the killing of Karenmigrant job-seekers.“We heard that he was involved in the killing,” he said.Police have issued arrest warrants for another five people who are suspected of involvement in the killing, according to the
Bangkok Post
.Provincial Police Bureau 6 chief Surasi Sunthornsarathoon told the
Bangkok Post
onThursday that the officer had admitted to killing the Burmese workers while in thecompany of five hilltribe men. The five hilltribe men were former Haw Chinesesoldiers and an ethnic Lisu named Sai, Yozu, Laota, Epu, Zotu and Fofang, the reportsaid.Pingkaew and his five accomplices had allegedly tried to extort money from theillegal migrant workers, who ran away when they saw the group approaching,Sunthornsarathoon said.One local source in Phop Phra told
The Irrawaddy
that the gunmen demanded 1,000baht (US $33) from each member of the group, but they killed nine of the migrantswhen they had difficulty raising the money.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17741
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NEWS ON REFUGEES*************************************************************
Forced Repatriation of Karen Refugees to StartBy SIMON ROUGHNEEN Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thai authorities will start deporting 3,000 Karen refugees living in Tha Song Yangcamp back to Burma on Friday.Karen Women's Organization (KWO) spokesperson Blooming Night Zan said that 35families comprised of 165 people will be the first to be repatriated, speaking at a pressconference in Bangkok on Thursday.This is despite pleas from the refugees and from more than 70 Thai and Thai-basedBurmese NGOs that the group be allowed to stay in Thailand.
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