BANGKOK, Thailand—The driver of a truck in which 54 illegal immigrants from Myanmar suffocated last week has surrendered and confessed to working for a human smuggling network, Thai police said Wednesday.Suchon Bunplong, 38, turned himself in Tuesday after a six-day manhunt, police Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai said.
"He was scared he would be killed by the others involved (in the network), so he surrendered for his own safety," said Kraithong, adding that police were searching for two other suspects identified by Suchon.The driver said he was hired for $2,300 to take the migrants from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. He was paid half the money in advance and was to collect the rest on arrival, Kraithong said.
"He was scared he would be killed by the others involved (in the network), so he surrendered for his own safety," said Kraithong, adding that police were searching for two other suspects identified by Suchon.
The driver said he was hired for $2,300 to take the migrants from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. He was paid half the money in advance and was to collect the rest on arrival, Kraithong said.
The tragedy has shed light on the brutal cost of human trafficking and the plight of desperate job-seekers in parts of Southeast Asia.
Thailand is a magnet for millions of migrants from its poorer neighbors—illegal workers who lack legal protection and are often ruthlessly exploited. The migrants from Cambodia, Laos and especially Myanmar take menial and dangerous jobs shunned by Thais. More than 1 million people from Myanmar are believed to be working in Thailand.
The 54 who died were among 121 people crammed into the truck's sweltering 20-foot container, which was locked and unventilated.
The air conditioning later shut down, and they called the driver again but couldn't get through. One survivor said last week the driver's phone had been switched off. Suchon told police he ignored the ringing phone because he was driving at night and trying to concentrate on a dark, winding road, said police Lt. Gen. Apirak Hongthong. Suchon said he also feared that if he stopped the truck he would attract attention from other motorists. About two hours into the journey, Suchon pulled over, unlocked the container and quickly fled when he saw the state of the victims, police said. Thai authorities said last week that 53 of the 67 survivors would be jailed for two months on charges of illegal entry and then deported. Fourteen of the survivors were minors under the age of 18 who were sent home without trial.
Death-run driver gives up
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The driver of a container truck in which 54 illegal migrants suffocated to death on their way from Burma to Thailand has given himself up to police after a seven-day manhunt.
Suchon Boonplong, who had been on the run since abandoning the vehicle, said he had been hired for 74,000 baht (HK$18,300) to drive the truck from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket.
"He confessed," Police Colonel Kraithong Chanthongbai said. "He said he was a driver. He said he had initially got 37,000 baht - half of the pay - and would have got the rest in Phuket."
Suchon is the first person to have confessed to a role in the tragedy, which has shone a rare spotlight on human smuggling rings and the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers going to Thailand from impoverished Burma.
The 54 who died were among 120 people crammed into the stiflingly hot container for several hours. Survivors said they pounded on the sides and screamed at the driver after the air- conditioning system broke down.
"We contacted the driver using a mobile phone but he told us in Burmese to keep quiet and make no trouble," Tida Toy, 21, said. "He switched off the phone and drove on."
The owner of the truck and the operator of a raft on which the migrants are thought to have crossed a river from Burma have also been arrested. They deny being part of a human smuggling network and claim to have simply rented out the truck and the raft.
About two million migrants from across the region work in Thailand, most of them illegals from Burma.
REUTERS
0 Response to " "