ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

October 4, 1998 							
								
    								


ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Taking advantage of illegal labour
ON THE TAKE: Officials of a registered development agency are helping
immigrants without legal permits find work, while making a tidy profit. 

SURAT JINAKUL
Ateam of policemen from the Special Task Centre for Investigation,
Suppression and Repatriation of Illegal Immigrants broke into the New Kim
Sur restaurant on Ramkhamhaeng Road on July 22 and asked for identification
cards from service girls attending a crowd of customers.
The 39 young women, however, couldn't produce the documents. They answered
the police in broken Thai that they had long been aware that the police
would come to arrest them one day.
"We don't have ID cards. We're illegal immigrants. We are Burmese. We work
illegally here," they confessed.
The women were rounded up and charged with illegal entry as well as working
without a permit. The operator of the place, Precha Wongphetsiew, was also
booked for employing illegal immigrants. During interrogation he named
persons who brought him the workers from Burma.
A subsequent police investigation found that the women had entered the
country through rough border patches in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
Twenty-six of the women had been arrested once or twice before on similar
offences.
>From this and several other raids, the police established two key factors: 
* The workers come into the country through arrangements made by organised
flesh smuggling gangs.
* They send money home and pay fees to underground gangs for illegal money
transaction services.
This is not the first time the police received such information. A police
officer in charge of the raid said, "The new arrests confirm what we have
already known."
The fees: On August 3, the police arrested one Burmese identified as So
Mitret and charged him with over-staying, a minor offence.
Sunday Perspective found that the police often use charges of minor offence
to have a hold on illegal workers in order to extract more crucial
information involving illegal cross-border transactions.
For instance, illegal immigrants cannot send money home through usual
channels due to their illegal status. They have no documents required for
banking services.
Police suspect they ask Thais or foreigners with bank accounts to remit
money on their behalf. Police also believe that "underground money
transaction gangs" provide similar services.
According to police, the remitters charge a service fee of about five
percent, while gangs ask over ten percent. The gangs do not use regular
banking services. The money is sent through other channels which police
would not identify.
In the So Mitret case, police said they found in his possession bank
accounts that show regular money transfers to Burma and notes of
"underground" transactions.
"The more arrests, the more information we get," said Pol Maj Gen Boonyarit
Rattanaporn, commander of the Police Department's Special Task Centre for
Investigation, Suppression and Repatriation of Illegal Immigrants.
He said that the information also convinced the police that some people
involved in flesh smuggling and fee collection are "more influential than
we thought." 
Influence: Sunday Perspective learned from police investigators that
certain officials of the Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy, a
registered association, were involved in human smuggling and subsequent
money transactions. These officials use the name of the association and
personal connections with different government agencies to their advantage.
The police, however, prefer to focus their case on the individuals
involved, since they do not have enough evidence that the association has
done anything wrong. 
"Yet we do have a strong impression that specific top men [at the
association] support these activities," said a ranking police officer.
The suspects include civilians as well as retired military officers, one a
retired air force officer with the rank of air marshal (names withheld).
The association: The Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy has been in
operation for decades with the stated objective of working against
communism and assisting the government in strengthening national security.
After the wane of communist activity in the country, the association
changed its role to social welfare and development. Association executives
have always been active or retired military officers or civil servants.
In 1997, the association started a programme to expand its membership and
increase its income for social service activities. That same year saw the
influx of numerous illegal immigrants from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, which
many attributed to growing social, economic, political and national
security problems.
The Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy qualified Burmese, Lao and
Cambodian applicants for temporary membership. This is not against the law,
provided they are legal residents or legal immigrants.
The association views this practice as a means to "cooperate with the
Government to solve the problem arising from illegal immigrants working
illegally in the country", and cites a 1996 cabinet resolution, passed on
June 26, which calls for the cooperation of people from all walks of life
as well as state agency officials to help solve the problem of illegal
workers.
Cooperative efforts: The Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy set
three targets in its 1997 to 1999 work plan.
The first is to arrange for (illegal) Burmese immigrants to undergo health
checks and be guaranteed by the association when applying for work permits.
The association secured approval from the Labour and Welfare Ministry to
recruit immigrant workers for local employers. To date, the association has
secured a quota of 6,000 jobs.
The association then signed contracts to supply unskilled Burmese workers
at a rate of 1,000 baht per worker. The quota would yield the association
six million baht. The association also charges 500 baht for membership fees
and service charges. This increases the association's revenue by three
million baht.
The second target is to arrange for illegal Burmese immigrants, who are not
legally permitted to work, to become temporary members of the association. 
The goal, according to the association, is to help government authorities
control or monitor the movements of illegal immigrants.
The association has 200,000 members in this category, each paying a 200
baht membership fee, for a total revenue of 40 million baht. 
The association also collects a monthly 500 baht "cost of management fee"
from these unemployed Burmese immigrants, which yields an additional 100
million baht a month.
While Sunday Perspective has learned that several officials of the
association provide cash remittance services from Thailand to Burma, this
is not done on behalf of the association.
A police source estimates that about 1,500 million baht is remitted to
Burma every month through unofficial channels. This amount is calculated on
the assumption that 750,000 workers each remit 2,000 baht per month.
According to another police source, some corrupt association officials
collect five percent of the remittances, which would yield a total of up to
40 million baht on a monthly remittance of 800 million baht.
Corruption: The lucrative set-up at the Thailand League for Freedom and
Democracy has lured malpractices, irregularities and fraud.
For instance, apart from having arranged legal work permits for the quota
of 6,000 jobs permitted by labour authorities, some officials at the
association recruited illegal immigrants to work at places whose owners
sidestep labour regulations to avoid paying fees. In many cases, the jobs
are protected by law from foreign workers.
Another example involves cases of association officials who arrange the
illegal entry of immigrants for profit. Aside from recruiting illegal
immigrants who are already in the country, these officials also help bring
more workers through the border. No records are available, but the number
of Burmese brought in this way likely runs in the hundreds of thousands. A
contravention of national policy, this also worsens the illegal immigrant
problem. 
The association's corrupt officials often have accomplices who are not
association members, such as human smuggling gangs based in Bangkok, Pathum
Thani and Kanchanaburi.
For their part, police investigators are confident of closing in on the
practice, "as soon as we get a little more evidence to take them to court."
An inside job: The head of the Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy
admits that some association officials cooperate with human smuggling gangs.
"Yes, I got the message. To get rid of them, we are collecting evidence
with help from the police," said Air Chief Marshal Chakorn Thatanonda,
president of the Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy.
In an interview with Sunday Perspective, he made it clear that the actions
of the individuals involved in no way reflected those of the association.
"The Thailand League for Freedom and Democracy does not condone the
bringing in of immigrants [illegally] to profit from their job employment,"
he said.
ACM Chakorn confirmed this week that these activities have been observed
for some time now.
"We [he and several close aides] have informed the police and asked for
action. I alone can do nothing," ACM Chakorn said.
ACM Chakorn also confirmed that the Thailand League for Freedom and
Democracy got permission from the Labour and Welfare Ministry to recruit
6,000 illegal immigrants and find jobs for them in local industries.
He said the recruitment is part of a cooperation plan the organisation
offered to the government. The main objective is to protect national security.
"Once the illegal immigrants become members of our organisation, we can
monitor their movement. We know and the government knows that this measure
is better than no control at all," he said. "But some people here took
advantage of the system and recruited more illegal immigrants than the
quotas allowed. Some bring in people across the border." 
"They did it in the name of the organisation," he said. 
He said the suspects stole official organisation seals and documents, which
were used to falsify applications.
The suspects contacted business operators in need of unskilled workers.
Since the suspects operated under the mantle of the Thailand League for
Freedom and Democracy, the businesses assumed it was legal.
Aside from the involvement of unsuspecting business operators, however,
immigration officials at the border and in the provinces have also been
duped into allowing the movement of illegal immigrants within Thailand.
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© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1998
Last Modified: Sun, Oct 4, 1998
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