Thailand's Attorney General on Friday indicted 72 people, including a senior army officer, suspected of involvement in a human trafficking racket.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) indicted senior army officer Lt. Gen Manas Kongpan and 71 accomplices on 16 counts of human trafficking, transnational criminal activity, bringing foreign workers into Thailand and violation of official duty, said OAG spokesperson Wanchai Roujanavong, according to Bangkok Post.
"We will not let influential people rise above justice. For those people who are still on the run overseas, we will work with national police to send them back, according to existing extradition treaties," Wanchai said, according to Bangkok Post. He further added fifteen of those arrested were military and public officials - including four police officials.
Thailand launched an investigation - the biggest into human trafficking in Thai history - in May after the discovery of mass graves, believed to have bodies of Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, in various jungle camps near the Thai-Malaysian border.
"The OAG has given priority to the issue, as it is a big group of people involving international systems. It caused a lot of damage to the country as there were dead bodies found," Wanchai said, according to BBC.
The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok has welcomed the Thai government's decision to prosecute human traffickers.
"The U.S. would like to see Thailand continue to maintain stringent law enforcement and bring all culprits to justice regardless of who they are," spokeswoman of the U.S. Embassy in Thailand Melissa Sweeney said, according to Phuketwan. "Any anti-human trafficking operations conducted after April 1 this year will be taken into consideration by the US Department of State when preparing its Trafficking in Persons Report for next year."
