US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK6441

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 006441 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP (M. TAYLOR), G (LAURA LEDERER), DRL/IL AND 
EAP/MLS 
DOL FOR ILAB - MARK MITTELHAUSER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN, KCRM, ELAB, PHUM, SOCI, TH 
SUBJECT:  NEW THAI POLICE ANTI-TIP UNIT TAKES ON FIRST 
TRAFFICKING CASES 
 
1. (U) Summary: The commander of Thailand's new anti- 
trafficking unit met with G and G/TIP officials on September 
29 to outline future Thai government plans to combat human 
trafficking.  Police General Camronwit Toopgrajank also 
recounted details of recent trafficking cases since the 
creation of his unit in June, including the August arrests 
of four Thais accused of trafficking a minor to the 
Singapore/Malaysia border region for forced prostitution. 
End Summary. 
 
2. (U) The commander of Thailand's new anti-trafficking-in- 
persons police unit reviewed recent cases undertaken by his 
division, which was created in June, and outlined Royal Thai 
Government (RTG) plans to "declare war on human trafficking" 
in November in a manner and scope similar to its recent war 
on drug trafficking.  Police Gen. Camronwit Toopgrajank 
leads the newly-formed Royal Thai Police (RTP) unit 
designated as "Crime Suppression Division 4 (CSD)" but also 
known as the "Women and Children Protection Division."  The 
unit currently holds 340 police officers in four sub- 
divisions - one for administration and one each assigned to 
cover 1) the north and northwestern provinces; 2) the 
southern provinces, and 3) Bangkok and the northeastern 
provinces. 
 
3. (SBU) In a September 29 meeting with visiting senior 
adviser on TIP for G, Dr. Laura Lederer, G/TIP Senior 
Reports Officer Mark Taylor, and Embassy Laboff, Gen. 
Camronwit said the RTG Cabinet would announce measures in 
November to create a national information center on 
trafficking cases linking law enforcement agencies in each 
of Thailand's provinces.  He said provincial governors would 
also be tasked to sign MOU's with owners of all adult 
entertainment venues in their districts to certify they are 
free of child labor and forced prostitution, and that 
government officials, including police, will be held 
responsible for any future violations found.  Gen. Camronwit 
said the Cabinet act would be accompanied by a new 
parliamentary "prevention of human trafficking and 
suppression bill," which would enable law enforcers to deal 
more effectively with trafficking gangs.  (The draft bill, 
proposed by a government committee chaired by former 
attorney-general Khanit Na Nakorn, is expected to be 
forwarded to parliament for further consideration at the 
beginning of next year.) 
 
4. (SBU) Gen. Camronwit then described details of several 
trafficking cases that had been taken on since the unit's 
creation in June.  Several of the cases involved child 
sexual abuse by visiting foreign citizens, the most 
prominent being that of a former Australian policeman 
accused of luring a Thai minor into a three-year sexual 
relationship in return for shelter and education fees. 
 
5. (SBU) Gen. Camronwit also provided written details and a 
chronology of a case that was recently publicized here when 
four Thais were arrested on August 23 under suspicion of 
trafficking a minor girl to Malaysia and Singapore. 
According to the case chronology, RTP officers were first 
contacted on December 3, 2004, by a victim, now 15 years 
old, who recounted being recruited by the suspects out of 
Buriram, Isaan, with the promise of a bar waitress job in 
Bangkok, and ended up in forced prostitution in various 
worker camps on the Malaysia/Singapore border.  The suspects 
were named as Somchai Saising (male, 25), Patarida Promchan 
(female, 34), Kanokpon Jinafeuy (female), and Rattanapon 
Sutticompong (female).  The girl told investigators that 
after traveling to Bangkok with one of the suspects, she was 
taken to the southern Thailand towns of Had Yai and 
Songkhla, and then to her final destination on the 
Singapore/Malaysia border via public bus. 
 
6. (SBU) The girl told investigators that she was forced 
into prostitution with as many as 10 customers a day in a 
number of workers' camps in the Malaysia/Singapore border 
region (listing Kelang, Yeesoon, Kalanyee, Buda, Tiger Beer, 
Tuad, Limsukang and Sanghee as the principal locations). 
The girl said she escaped her last camp after meeting a 
sympathetic Thai customer who allowed her to use his mobile 
phone to contact her family.  Fleeing by taxi, the victim 
said she traveled to the Thai Embassy in Singapore, which 
repatriated her on September 19 of last year to Bangkok, 
where she is currently recuperating in the city's Sritanya 
Mental Hospital under the care of a women's health 
foundation.  The four suspects in the case have been 
released on bail.  Police attributed the eight-month long 
delay in the arrests, after the case was first filed (and 
almost one year after the victim's escape) to the difficulty 
in locating the suspects.  Gen. Camronwit's staff said they 
had been coordinating on the case with Singaporean 
authorities in an effort to corroborate details, naming a 
"Mr. Chong, Deputy Superintendent of the Criminal 
Investigations Department in Singapore," as their point of 
contact. 
7. (SBU) Comment:  We will follow the activities of the new 
anti-TIP unit closely, especially in light of the new chain 
of command that is likely to emerge following the expected 
October civil service reshuffle.  Senior TIP supervision is 
also expected to change with the coming 2006 retirement of 
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gen. Amnuay Phetsiri, the 
senior police official responsible for TIP.  We will be 
looking to see results from the new TIP unit beyond simple 
MOUs, and hope that any future "war on trafficking" will not 
be accompanied by the human rights violations that occurred 
during the anti-drug campaign.  Embassy will follow up for 
further information on the Singapore/Malaysia case as it 
becomes available, but we note that details of the case have 
changed somewhat since it was first reported to us (among 
other things, Thai police initially said the victim had been 
deported by Singaporean immigration officials to Malaysia, 
from where she was repatriated).