--- description: A trial began in Bangkok this week with 92 people accused of being part of a human-trafficking network title: What You Need to Know About Thailand's Trafficking Trial image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt327674e7bd0d0eff/69888b8b0a4a226d059c8ddf/rtx1zy9n.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Thailand](/tag/thailand/) ## Thailand Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 4 Things to Know About Thailand's Trial of 92 Alleged Human Traffickers by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2016 9:44 AM CUT  Human-trafficking suspects arrive at the criminal court in Bangkok on Dec. 24, 2015\. More than 80 suspects of the Rohingya human-trafficking case arrived at Bangkok's criminal court for the first witness hearing Human-trafficking suspects arrive at the criminal court in Bangkok on Dec. 24, 2015\. More than 80 suspects of the Rohingya human-trafficking case arrived at Bangkok's criminal court for the first witness hearingChaiwat Subprasom—Reuters by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2016 9:44 AM CUT Ninety-two people went on trial in Bangkok this week accused of being part of a transnational human-trafficking network that held people in barbaric conditions in camps close to the Thai-Malaysian border. The case was sparked by the gruesome discovery of 36 bodies buried in shallow graves at the site of one of seven prison camps uncovered in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla last year. The mostly Thai defendants — there are also four Rohingya Muslims and one Bangladeshi on trial — are facing charges including human trafficking, illegally holding others and concealing bodies. Among them are provincial government and law-enforcement officials, including a former senior army general, Manas Kongpan, who is [accused](http://news.yahoo.com/thai-general-among-human-trafficking-suspects-court-050048690.html "undefined") of being the linchpin of the network. The trial is[ expected](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/898404/human-trafficking-trial-opens-amid-fears-for-witnesses "undefined") to be completed within a year, but it touches on an ongoing migration crisis that reaches across Southeast Asia’s borders. **1\. It could be just the tip of the iceberg** An estimated 170,000 people, both Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Burma and Bangladeshis trying to escape poverty, have made a [risky maritime journey](https://unhcr.atavist.com/mmm2015 "undefined") since 2012, setting off southward from the shores of the Bay of Bengal, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency. Testimonies from those who made it to the relative security of Malaysia, as well as from people living in displacement camps in western Burma, suggest that many refugees would have passed through these jungle camps on the Thai-Malay border. **Read More:**[_Rohingya Survivors Speak of Their Ordeals as 139 Suspected Graves Are Found in Malaysia_](http://time.com/3895816/malaysia-human-trafficking-graves-rohingya/ "undefined") Amy Smith, executive director at Fortify Rights, a human-rights group that is closely monitoring the trial says there may be more mass graves yet to be discovered in Thailand. “That’s something also the Thais should be looking into,” she says. (Malaysia [found](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-migrants-idUSKBN0OA06W20150525 "undefined") hundreds of graves when it uncovered trafficking camps on its side of the border.) But following a month-long crackdown in May, Thai authorities [declared](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-migrants-thai-idUSKBN0OA0BV20150525 "undefined") there to be no trafficking camps left in the country. Witnesses have told the trial they were [lured](http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/trial-03152016230621.html "undefined") from the shores of the Bay of Bengal with the promise of the good life in Malaysia, Radio Free Asia reports. But instead of disembarking there, they were held while traffickers demanded that their families back home paid ransoms. If they couldn’t pay, the victims were used as slave labor, or simply killed. **2\. It’s about time** A well-oiled system of people smuggling, which would have earned those involved millions of dollars, is thought to have been operating in Southeast Asia for some time. “Everybody knows those trafficking camps have been in existence for decades,” says Smith. “It is evident from the fact that those remains that were uncovered were just bones.” The scale of trafficking ramped up after 2012, however, when communal [conflict](http://world.time.com/2012/10/26/in-burma-another-round-of-ethnic-unrest-threatens-fragile-reforms/ "undefined") broke out between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Burma. The Rohingya, who Burma denies citizenship, bore the brunt of the violence — dozens were killed and almost 140,000 were displaced when rampaging mobs burned down entire neighborhoods. **Read More:** [_These Aren’t Refugee Camps, They’re Concentration Camps, and People Are Dying in Them_](http://time.com/2888864/rohingya-myanmar-burma-camps-sittwe/ "undefined") Reports soon emerged, especially through local publication [Phuketwan](http://phuketwan.com/tourism/second-rohingya-camp-raided-rights-group-calls-intervention-17407/ "undefined"), that hundreds of Rohingya were being held in holding camps in southern Thailand amid a mass exodus from Burma’s Rakhine state. An investigative report from Reuters in November 2013 [exposed](http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-thailand-rohingya-special-report-idUKBRE9B400920131205 "undefined") how the network of camps — described as a “tropical gulag” — were operating with the knowledge and even complicity of Thai officials. Still, it took until several months into 2015 for Thailand to unearth the bodies in Songkhla and begin making arrests. That came after the U.S. had [downgraded](http://time.com/2903416/malaysia-thailand-human-trafficking/ "undefined") the country in its annual Trafficking in Persons report the previous year, raising the possibility of damaging trade sanctions against a long-term American ally in Southeast Asia. Thailand began [pushing](http://www.dw.com/en/thai-navy-turns-back-boat-carrying-migrants/a-18451005 "undefined") boats full of desperate people back out to sea, sparking a regional crisis with hundreds of people stranded in open waters without food and drinking water. **3\. The trial is big, but not big enough** Fortify Rights believes that a total of 153 arrest warrants have been issued in Thailand relating to the case, but authorities do not appear to be looking to make more arrests beyond the 92 on trial. Officials high up in the Thai government had prematurely ended the investigation, Smith says. The police official tasked with the probe has [fled](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/10/thailands-most-senior-human-trafficking-investigator-to-seek-political-asylum-in-australia "undefined") Thailand and sought asylum in Australia, from where he has claimed that he was subjected to intimidation when his work threatened more senior members of the Thai government, which since May 2014 has been under the control of a military junta. **Read More:** [_Burma’s Nowhere People_](http://time.com/3908627/burmas-nowhere-people/ "undefined") There are also concerns about the safety of some 300 mostly Rohingya trafficking survivors who are witnesses in the trial, which involves powerful defendants. Most are staying in government-run shelters from which some have already vanished, raising concerns about what protections are in place for their security. **4\. The root causes have not gone away** There has been a dramatic reduction in boat traffic since last May’s crackdown. The U.N. estimates that only 1,600 people embarked from Burma and Bangladesh in the second half of 2015, compared with 31,000 departures in the first half of the year. The decrease could be attributed to a more hopeful atmosphere in Burma, where a [democratically elected president](http://time.com/4258655/htin-kyaw-burma-myanmar-president-aung-san-suu-kyi/ "undefined") will take power on April 1, the first in more than half a century. But hopes that the new administration led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi will improve the situation for the Rohingya might be far-fetched. Suu Kyi has insisted that the solution to the issue lies in improving the rule of law, and has been criticized for failing to speak out against Islamophobia among many Burmese Buddhists, who consider the Rohingya to be interlopers from Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were not allowed to vote in the November elections that brought Suu Kyi’s party to power. Their movement is restricted, and about 140,000 continue to live in poorly supplied camps, meaning that another boat exodus could still happen, says Smith. “The option of getting on a boat is going to be a hell of a lot better than staying and dying in those camps,” she adds. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4263868/thailand-trial-92-human-trafficking/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4263868/thailand-trial-92-human-trafficking/"},"headline":"4 Things to Know About Thailand's Trial of 92 Alleged Human Traffickers","datePublished":"2016-03-18T09:44:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:01:08.361Z","description":"The remains of 36 people were discovered at the site of a jungle prison in the country's far south","url":"https://time.com/4263868/thailand-trial-92-human-trafficking/","keywords":["Thailand","Burma","human trafficking","migration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt327674e7bd0d0eff/69888b8b0a4a226d059c8ddf/rtx1zy9n.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Lewis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt327674e7bd0d0eff/69888b8b0a4a226d059c8ddf/rtx1zy9n.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Human trafficking suspects arrive at the criminal court in Bangkok","caption":"Human trafficking suspects arrive at the criminal court in Bangkok","creditText":"Chaiwat Subprasom—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/thailand/","name":"Thailand"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4263868/thailand-trial-92-human-trafficking/","name":"4 Things to Know About Thailand's Trial of 92 Alleged Human Traffickers"}}]}] ```