Rohingya refugees being 'held in secret Thai jungle camps and sold to human traffickers'
Rohingya Muslims are being detained at a clandestine site in the Thai jungle where it is alleged they are sold to brokers and held to ransom
A special correspondent for the South China Morning Post has been led to a secret refugee camp deep in the Thai jungle, where an escapee said about 1,500 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar are being hidden in appalling conditions.
He was among thousands of Rohingya boatpeople detained in Thailand prior to supposed repatriation to Myanmar. In reality, sources said, Thai immigration authorities have held them in secret jungle camps before selling them to human traffickers who ransom them to relatives.
Nearby villagers said four such camps were being operated near the village of Ban Chalung in Songkhla province. It is not clear whether they are being operated with the approval of the Thai government, and it is not known how many people are held in the camps in total.
The Post's sources include two Rohingya men who said they had escaped from the camps, as well as people with connections to brokers, who pay Thai immigration officers at least 10,000 baht (HK$2,400) for each Rohingya. The brokers then try to sell them to their relatives in Malaysia for up to 60,000 baht, the sources said.
One of the escapees, "A", led a reporter through steep jungle to reach the perimeter of a camp on Friday. Although caution prevented them from emerging through the undergrowth to take a clear photo of the camp - which villagers said was protected by armed guards - they were close enough to hear people loudly speaking the Rohingya language.