DHAKA: Thailand’s police have arrested a man they believe is the key figure behind a brutal human trafficking network that ran a jungle camp where dozens of bodies have been found.

Soe Naing, widely known as Anwar, was detained on Wednesday as the authorities closed in on a camp near the Thai-Malaysia border where as many as 400 trafficked migrants, mainly Rohingya and Bangladeshis, were imprisoned for ransom, said Nakhon Si Thammarat province police deputy commander Anuchon Chamat.

He was charged with fraud related to his failure to release a trafficked Rohingya after receiving a ransom payment.

His arrest, and the uncovering of the camp containing 26 bodies on Friday, is the first major bust of a trade in humans that activists and some Thai officials say has been allowed to flourish for years amid indifference and, sometimes, complicity by Thai authorities.

‘This is huge. He’s a big guy, a top guy,’ Col Anuchon said, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1548 HRS, MAY 04, 2015
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