Teknaf, Bangladesh: Four boats with Rohingya boatpeople arrived and caught in Thailand from January 17, 19 and 26. They were intercepted off Surin Island in the Andaman Sea at around midnight, when they tried to enter Thailand, according to our source from Thailand
"On January 17, 46 people were caught by Thai Royal Navy and handed over to Ranong immigration, but not known how many figures on January 19 of two boats, and 79 people on January 26. One people jumped to the sea and were caught again in Surin Island. Now, all of them are in Ranong immigration detention center," source said
Thai authorities have some internal change inside operation. They may decide to send them back to the Ranong border or even bring them to Bangkok. Thai authorities try to hide these people and to do something look good as there are so many journalists in the area. At the moment, military try to keep everything secret. They didn't keep them in the same island anymore. Thai authority will set up an especial coast guard to protect Thai water. They will push them back right away when they find boat people, he more added.
In Bangkok, the concerned authority of Immigration called recently, all Rohingya people in Bangkok, to see in the office, no one know why and what will be happen in the future for Rohingya community in Thailand, said a Rohingya from Bangkok.
According to locals from Shapuri Dip, the boat left for Malaysia laden with 50 people on January 20, from Shapuri Dip and went to Cox's Bazar, where some more people were supposed to get on board. The leader of the crew was called Jaffor, who hailed from Kuauktaw Township of Arakan State, who is believed to have prior experience of sea voyage.
All the people on board were men -- 12 of them were aged between 14 and 19, while the rest were over 20 years old. They had received a basic medical check-up and appeared to be fine, according Colonel Veerasilp Supanpen, Commander of the Paknam Police station to AFP on January 26.
They have been detained at a police station and will be charged with illegal entry at the Ranong provincial court (Thailand).
Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva earlier claimed that authorities were dealing with the illegal migrants in a humane way, and said he wanted to work with neighboring countries including--- Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand and India, --- to tackle the menace of human trafficking.
Accusations of ill-treatment surfaced earlier this month after nearly 650 Rohingyas were rescued off India and Indonesia. Some of them claimed to have been beaten by Thai soldiers, before being set adrift in the high seas to die. Hundreds of such people are still believed to be missing at sea, according media. Thailand's military personnel has been accused of dragging hundreds of Rohingya people out into the deep sea in a boat without engine and oars and with negligible food and water, raising concerns as 300 more Rohingya ethnics land on Thai shores, according to sources.
What are the reasons which lead to Rohingyas wanting to flee from Arakan State? It is clear that Rohingya people leave Burma every year for the past five years, many escaping poverty or fleeing from persecution of religion, education, marriage, movement by the military regime, a village elder said.
Rohingya people are only forbidden to get married or to travel without the State's permission although they have been living in Burma for hundreds of years.
"The mother of one of those on the boat said that my son went to Malaysia by selling gold ornaments to get Taka 20,000 for him to go abroad, but, seeing pictures and hearing the news from radio, I think my son was lost at Andaman Sea."
The boat people were burned when the Burma army tried to set fire to their boat. The Burmese Border Security Patrol twice intercepted their boat as it headed south towards Thailand on January 20 to 27. They say dozens of officers boarded the boat and severely beat them. Many of the men appear to have severe burns to their skin, according to Al Jazeera.
