Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Three illegal Burmese migrants in Ranong were shot dead when Thai security forces opened fire on a car carrying them after it failed to stop at the checkpoint, Ranong police station sources said.
The police on duty said out of 15 illegal Burmese migrants, one male adult and two children were killed and five injured. The injured were sent to Ranong hospital for treatment.
"The police opened fire on the car, when it failed to stop at the checkpoint set up by police and some soldiers. It killed two children and one male adult. Five were injured and seven are being detained at the police station," a policeman on duty told Mizzima.
The Thai car driver will be charged for transporting illegal aliens and failing to stop at the checkpoint. The Burmese migrants will be charged with illegal entry into Thailand.
The car was on its way from Hin Chan to Chong Phaw, about 30 miles north of Ranong. The combined checkpoint manned by the Thai police and soldiers, signaled the car to stop. But the Thai driver tried to flee.
A local resident in Ranong said that he had heard about the shooting. There were two checkpoints between Hin Chan and Chong Phaw but the police make only surprise checks, when they receive a tip-off and only on suspicious vehicles. This is the first ever shooting on this road, it is learnt.
The Burmese section in-charge Myint Wei of the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), which works for Burmese workers' affairs, said that it is premature to comment and put the blame on Thai security agencies for the shooting.
"We don't know yet whether the people were covered when they were shot at or the police opened fire on them knowing they were migrants. If they shot at the people sitting in the vehicle, it is uncalled use of force," he said.
In an earlier incident 54 Burmese illegal migrants died of suffocation and asphyxiation in Ranong, Thailand in April 2008 while they were being transported in a container truck.
Nine Burmese migrant workers were killed by Thai police and human traffickers late last month in Phup Phra Township, Tak Province, Thailand. The police officer responsible for the killings committed suicide but some of the culprits are still absconding.
