Mass graveKuilla Miah had spent days on end at the Thai coast, searching for his son’s grave and for the killer of his son.
Finally his four-month-long suffering and efforts yielded results and the dangerous human trafficker, Anwar, was located and arrested. And the mass graves in Thailand were found.
After that, the grisly tales of the migrants came to light.
Kuilla Miah was being kept in a Thai police safe home, in fear that the traffickers may kill him. This correspondent met him on 21 May with the help of the Rohingya Society in Thailand.
Kuilla Miah is from Arakan, Myanmar. He left home along with many other Rohingyas about a decade ago, driven away by the torture of the government forces.
Since then he has been living in the Sankhala province in Thailand. He does odd jobs to earn a living. His wife and daughters live back home in the country.
He said it is not very secure for young Rohingya men in his country. He decided to send his son Abul Kasem (25) to Malaysia. He made a deal with an Arakan-based trafficking group for 60,000 bahts, equal to Tk. 1.5 lac, to send his son to Malaysia.
After paying the money in advance, Kasem set off by sea last December. Two weeks after that, Kuilla Miah received a phone call from his son who was then in Thailand.
Kasem informed him that the traffickers were asking for another 60,000 bahts, or else he would be kept trapped in the Thai jungles. The traffickers tortured him as well.
Kuilla Miah, on hearing of his son’s torture, took loans from his neighbours for the ransom. But then suddenly he learnt his son had been killed.
Kuilla Miah then set off on a mission to locate his son’s grave and the killers. Certain Thai citizens of Rohingya origin, living in southern Thailand, and the Rohingya Society in Thailand, came forward to help him. They found out that Kasem had died in the largest camp of Myanmar-based human traffickers. The head of this ring, Mohammed Anwar, was most dangerous and influential. He lived in Hatjjai, South Thailand.
Kuilla Miah said, Anwar had close links with the local administration. He contacted a senior army officer of the area who told them he could do nothing without proof. Nur Ahmad of the Thai Patani province was Kuilla Miah’s constant companion in his quest for proof. He was of Rohingya origin, his family moving to Thailand generations ago.
Nur Ahmad told Prothom Alo, one day they learnt that the traffickers were going to meet at Anwar’s house in Hatjjai. They informed the army officer about the meeting and the house was raided. But Anwar and his associates had found about the raid and had escaped beforehand. The house was searched and some documents were seized.
Anwar ran away to Myanmar after the raid but returned after 25 days, Nur Ahmad said. They learnt he was staying at a house in the next province, Nakhon Si Thammarat. They rang up the army officer and informed him. Early in the morning on 28 April the house was raised and Anwar was caught.
During police interrogations Anwar confessed about involvement in the human trafficking and ransom scam. He also told them the location of Kuilla Miah’s son’s grave.
Following this confession, on 1 May the police found the first mass grave in Thailand’s Padam Besar jungle, near the Malaysian border. From there, 27 skeletons were recovered and the world came to know about the mass graves. From the next day the Thai government began a combing operation for the traffickers.
Mamun Rashid, a member of Rohingya Society in Thailand and a businessman, told Prothom Alo, had Kuilla Miah not been so adamant, this mass grave would not have been discovered. The human trafficking would have continued unabated. Many more sons would end up dead. He said that Kuilla Miah’s present location is being kept a secret for security reasons. He is the main witness in a case in Thailand about this trafficking. And there are many policemen, people’s representatives and influential people who are suspects in the case.
From bread seller to billionaire: Anwar has amassed wealth of at least 400 crore bahts through this trafficking trade. Just a decade ago he used to sell bread in Hatjjai.
Anwar came to Thailand by trawler 20 years ago and lived in Hatjjai of the Sangkhla province. He would sell bread. He later got Thai citizenship.
Anwar gave up selling bread in 2008 and began working with the trafficking ring. Eventually he formed his own ring, one of the biggest in human trafficking. He built his own detention camps in the jungle, setting precedence for others.
-Prothom Alo
