Police should not be solely responsible for screening those who are transferred from scam call centres in Myanmar into Thailand, because the procedure is sensitive and requires professional personnel, according to the opposition FAIR Party’s sole MP Kannavee Suebsang today.
He said that interdisciplinary officials should be included in the process, to ensure accurate screening results, adding "The National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which is being used to categorise the returnees, is complex and important and requires professional personnel."
He was speaking as Thai authorities screen hundreds of foreign nationals, already transferred from Myanmar, to determine whether they had intentionally worked in illegal call centres or had been tricked into doing so.
The latest example of confusion arose on February 15, when Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiwpan, chief of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, claimed that, of 260 foreigners, only one was a victim, while the rest had worked there willingly.
Today, however, he revised the claim, saying that most of the group were victims of a human smuggling network, while the rest had joined up voluntarily.
"It is a serious mistake, and my office has to apologise for the incorrect information on the matter," he said.
He did not provide further details, but some believe he modified his claim following harsh criticism and calls for the returnees to be treated as victims.
Kannavee said it was difficult to distinguish between victims and non-victims, as those who were reported to have willingly worked in the centres might have been tortured or forced into doing so.
Some had intended to work in Thailand but were lured into working as customer service agents for the centres in Myanmar.
Last week, Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, chief of the police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Centre, claimed that nearly all who crossed the Thai border into Myanmar had done so knowingly and intentionally to work in scam call centres.
