Two Thais and a Myanmar citizen were arrested in Chon Buri on Thursday on charges of trafficking a 10-year-old girl from Myanmar to work as their “slave”.
The arrests were carried out by the police Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) and the Chon Buri office of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security after a court issued warrants.
The Thai suspects were identified only as Porntip, 65, and Saman, 50, and the Myanmar national was Naw Tha Tha Yee, according to a police source. They have been charged with conspiring to engage in human trafficking and exploiting a minor under the age of 15.
The arrests were the culmination of an investigation that began in February when a 10-year-old girl was found sleeping at a cemetery in Chon Buri.
The girl, who was found with marks and bruises on her arms and legs, was taken in by the Social Development and Human Security office.
Officers determined that she had come from Myanmar and had been brought into the country illegally, so the case was taken up by the police.
Investigators determined that the girl had been purchased from her parents in Myanmar by Naw Tha Tha Yee, who registered the girl as her adopted child in 2022 and arranged for her to be smuggled into Thailand via Tak province.
The girl was brought to Mr Saman’s house in Samut Prakan before she was moved to Ms Porntip’s residence in Chon Buri, where she was forced to work as a domestic helper.
The girl told authorities that she was often locked up, beaten and barred from eating whenever she made a mistake, so she decided to escape.
When they arrested the suspects, officials found another girl, along with evidence that suggests a third girl might also have been trafficked into the country.