burma: police Arrest 31 burmese illegal migrants
By Saw Yan Naing

February 14, 2008 - (Irrawaddy) Thirty-one Burmese illegal migrants—including three children and 18 women—were arrested by Thai police on Feb 12 after smugglers transported them to Ranong Province in Thailand.

Human traffickers continue to carry their lucrative human cargo, mostly at night, from Kawthaung Township in southern Burma, say local residents, despite an announced crackdown by Burmese authorities late in 2007.

Maung Tu, a resident in Kawthaung, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the latest group left from Kawthaung at about 12 am and were arrested about 5 am.

The migrants said they had planned to look for work in Mahachai, Surat Thani and Phang Nga in Thailand. Each person paid 700 baht to smugglers for the transportation fee, said Maung Tu. The group will be sent back to Burma.

A US State Department report, “Trafficking in Persons,” released o¬n June 13, 2007, said the Burmese military government has not done enough to stop the flow of human trafficking, particularly of women and children.

The route from Kawthaung to Ranong is one of the most heavily traveled for Burmese seeking safety or work in a foreign country.

Maung Tu said that about 500 Burmese migrants, many illegal, cross the border every day from Kawthaung to Thailand’s Ranong Province.

In December 2007 Thai border patrol police in Tak discovered 41 Burmese men and women in the tank of an oil transport trailer without fresh air as they were being transported from Mae Sot to Bangkok.

The report said an increasing number of ethnic Burmese girls and women are leaving Burma to find work. Children also have been trafficked to neighboring countries for sexual exploitation and forced labor as indentured street beggars, according to the report.

In 2006, about 740,000 Burmese migrant workers registered with the Department of Employment in Thailand. An estimated 1 million Burmese migrants work in Thailand, many illegally.

From:http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=10386