Pattaya – Girl aged 14 was sold to a foreigner for 80,000 THB ($2,600 USD) by her stepfather

Via: Pattaya Daily News

Pol. Lt. Col. Kreetha Tankanarat, Deputy Superintendent, Pol. Lt. Col. Ormsin Sukkarnka, The head of Center of Protecting Children and Women and Subdue for Human Trade (CPCWSHT), Chonburi province, Pol. Maj. Kreangsak Boonprawat, Pol. Maj. Kingkaew Charoenpitakpracha, Inspector of Subdue work, Pol. Capt. Pemika Wiwattanapongpan, Ms. Sonthaya Maenpeun and Mr. Phalisorn Noja, the Director of the Center of Subdue of Human Trade were notified from Krajokngao foundation that a Cambodian guy forced his step children to be beggars and offered to sell his step daughter, age 14, nationality Cambodian to a foreigner for the price of 80,000 THB for sexual services and asked the officer to investigate and assist this girl.

The mother’s name was Mrs. Hen age 32 with her eldest daughter Orh (alias) age 14, her body had wounds all over, a boy Or (alias) age 10 had signs of being beaten with a broken nose, broken mouth and swollen body, another boy A (alias) age 15 months, was very thin and suffering from lack of food. Mrs. Hen said that at 5.40 a.m. on January 26, 2012 Mr. Jan age 40, nationality Cambodian, her husband and the step father of her children beat her and the children and took money from begging and had gone back to Cambodia already and forced her and children to continue to be beggars and forced her to try to sell her eldest daughter to a foreigner for 80,000 THB in order to buy land to build a house in Cambodia so she asked for assistance from the good people to notify Krajokngao foundation before she would be forced to sell her daughter.

After investigation, Pol. Lt. Col. Ormsin Sukkarnka said that initially the police had arrested Mrs. Hen age 32, the mother of 3 children in the accusation of escaping into town illegally and for her 3 children he let the officers to bring them to cure and take care of at the Home of Children and Family before following up to arrest Mr. Jan, the cruel step father to prosecute according to the law.

After they had been notified by the Krajokngao foundation, the officers found the mother with her 3 children begging money at second Pattaya Road Moo 9 Tambon Nong Preu, Amphur Banglamung, Chonburi province. The officers restrained them and brought them to the Center for Subduing of Human Trafficking at Banglamung police station.

Pattaya – 31 Khmer Beggars Including Babies Caught

Via: Pattaya Daily News

Pol. Lt. Col. Aroon Prompan said that he mobilized his teams to protect the tourists in Pattaya by order of the Pol. Maj. Gen. Adis Ngarmjitsuksri after he was notified that there were many foreign beggar gangs operating in Pattaya.

The beggars modus operandi, mothers carrying babies on the sidewalks of Second Road Pattaya.

At the crime scene they found many Cambodian beggar gang always with mothers carrying babies. The police arrested the whole bunch 31 beggars, divided to 15 mothers and 16 children age 1-10. Upon investigation it was discovered that all of them escaped to Chonburi province illegally from Cambodia.

They confessed that they escaped into Thailand via Sakaew international border and had begged at many locations in Pattaya.

The police believes that there must be a gang leader who brought them into Thailand.

Pattaya police will investigate all the beggars and prosecute them according to the law. Thereafter they will be sent back to the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia.

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2011/12/06/31-khmer-beggars-including-babies-caught-in-pattaya/

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Mekong River – Xayaburi dam

Via: Bangkok Post

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“Wait be Damned”

Construction work around a controversial dam in Laos which is expected to provide cheap energy to Thailand is well underway despite the project not yet receiving official approval.

An investigation by the Bangkok Post Sunday which visited the area surrounding the Xayaburi dam on the Lower Mekong River last week found major road works under construction and villagers preparing to be relocated.

Several of the villagers said they were to receive as little as US$15 (450 baht) in compensation for moving from the area.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/232239/xayaburi-dam-work-begins-on-sly

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Via: Than Nien News

With less than a week to go before the Mekong River Commission’s Joint Committee makes a decision on a major hydropower dam on the river, environmentalists highlighted its infeasibility and called for its cancellation.

If built, the dam could perpetrate an ecological catastrophe, they said.

“Disruptions to fish migration and food supplies for MILLIONS in the Mekong basin are likely if the first mainstream dam on the lower Mekong is allowed to go ahead,” the WWF, one of the world’s largest independent conservation organizations, said in a statement released Thursday (April 14).

Expert analysis showed that the feasibility study and environmental impact assessment prepared for the Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos failed to address key environmental risks, the WWF said.

The US$3.5 billion dam, to be built in northern Laos, would generate power mostly for sale to Thailand.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20110415182802.aspx