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Cellphone data analysis helps bring down human trafficking syndicate
Cellphone data forensics and close cooperation between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and police led to the undoing of an international human trafficking syndicate
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ellphone data forensics and close cooperation between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and police led to the undoing of an international human trafficking syndicate.
Investigators were able to detect and arrest members of the syndicate which was smuggling Rohingyas and Bangladeshis into Malaysia.
Also discovered was a mass grave in an abandoned jungle camp in Songkhla, southern Thailand, believed to have been operated by the syndicate.
International anti-human-trafficking organisation Freeland Foundation was asked in January to help the Thai police analyse data from cellphones belonging to suspected traffickers who had been arrested.
Police then discovered a systematic kidnapping scheme targeting Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Freeland worked on the task for three months and generated an 'i2 phone link chart' that allowed detectives to better focus their investigations.
It also led them to a Myanmar national and several of his Thai connections who were sending a large boat to Myanmar every month and luring 300-400 Rohingyas aboard with the promise of jobs in Thailand.
Police have arrested the Myanmar national, along with two politicians from southern Thailand.
Banking information obtained by the investigators also revealed that the syndicate was running a multi-million-dollar operation.
'What is impressive about this case is that it started with local police, not specialised federal cops,' said Freeland director Steven Galster in a statement yesterday.
'And the local police reached out immediately for technical assistance and cooperation which led to quick progress.'
The mass grave discovered last week had more than 30 severely decayed corpses, believed to be the remains of Rohingya and Bangladeshi illegal immigrants.
Galster said the bodies were likely illegals who had died from sickness or abuse while being trafficked by the syndicate.
'The bodies were buried instead of (the deaths) being reported to hospitals or the authorities,' he said. (***)
