By P.S. Waller
BANGKOK (AA) – Almost 20 Myanmar nationals have been rescued off the coast of southern Thailand after police raided an Indonesian-flagged fishing vessel.
Local media reported Tuesday that the group was discovered near Pattani province after families of some of those on board alerted the Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT) of their situation.
It is not known if any of those on board were Rohingya, but many of the persecuted Muslim ethnic group regularly flee Myanmar for Thailand and beyond.
A Myanmar woman was arrested at the scene. She had promised the migrants — some as young as 13 — employment at a factory in Pattaya on Thailand’s eastern seaboard but instead took them to Pattani.
The Bangkok Post reported that Thai police had been monitoring the vessel since Sunday after they were alerted by MAT.
The victims were found locked up on the fishing vessel, and were reported to have been there for ten days.
For years, employers have exploited Myanmar migrant workers as they leave their country of birth in an effort to find employment and higher wages than that available locally.
On April 12, three Thai fishing vessels traveling under Malaysian flags were seized with 79 people on board who were found to be victims of such trafficking.
They were subsequently repatriated to Myanmar and Cambodia.
After years of being lambasted by human rights groups for its deemed failure to tackle such trafficking, Thailand was upgraded to Tier 2 from Tier 3 in the United States’ 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report released June 30.
With Myanmar’s rainy season coming to a close in mid-August, NGOs have said they anticipate a rise in the number of boats.
