Alleged leader of Rohingya smuggling gang arrested

A Thai man accused of leading a human trafficking gang has been arrested along with two accomplices in connection with the smuggling of 26 Rohingya migrants, three of whom died of suffocation in an overcrowded truck, police said on Saturday.
Police from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) apprehended Somkiart Samphaothong, 30, in Chanthaburi on Friday. Also arrested in Bangkok were Natthawut Niamthong, 20; and Phongphitsanu Samphaothong, 20, said Pol Maj Gen Sarut Kwaengsopha, the division commander. 
The three men were wanted on arrest warrants issued by the Lang Suan court on Oct 30 on charges of colluding in helping migrants enter the country illegally.
Earlier, two Thai men were arrested in Phetchaburi for using a box pickup truck to transport 26 Rohingya migrants who had entered the country from Myanmar via Mae Sot district in the northern province of Tak. They were en route to Songkhla province in the South.
The suspects later abandoned the Rohingya in tambon Wang Takor in Lang Suan district of Chumphon after noticing that some were suffocating as there was no ventilation inside the covered pickup truck. Three of them died, said Pol Maj Gen Sarut.
Investigators subsequently learned that Mr Somkiart had organised the operation, at the direction of another Thai national. He then ordered his accomplices to pick up the migrants in the Rom Klao area of Bangkok to transport them to the South. From there, the Muslim Rohingya were planning to continue on to Malaysia in hopes of finding work.
However, some migrants were found dead in Chumphon province. This prompted the investigators to seek court approval to arrest those involved, said the ATPD commander.
After learning that his two accomplices were arrested, Mr Somkiart fled to Chanthaburi, where he was hiding in an area in the compound of a national park  in tambon Khun Song of Kaeng Hang Maew district. 
Police traced him down to his hideout and managed to arrest him at a makeshift house at a durian plantation.
After learning that his two accomplices had been arrested, Mr Somkiart fled to Chanthaburi. Police tracked him to a makeshift house at a durian plantation in Khao Sip Ha Chan National Park in Kaeng Hang Maew district.
During questioning, Mr Somkiart told officers that he had been paid about 3,000 baht per head to smuggle the Rohingya. He paid his associates for 500 to 1,000 baht day and said they were to find a budget hotel for the migrants.
However, police found tens of millions of baht were in circulation in the bank accounts of Mr Somkiart and his accomplices. All were handed over to Lang Suan police for legal action.
Pol Maj Gen Sarut said the suspects were members of a major smuggling gang bringing Rohingya into Thailand before smuggling them to the South en route to Malaysia, where they were promised jobs.
The investigation was being extended to arrest the mastermind behind the human smuggling operation, said the ATPD commander.