Rohingya camp abandoned before raid

Bangkok Post

January 31, 2013

Authorities raided a camp in a rubber plantation in Songkhla's Hat Yai district where about 200 illegal Royingya migrants were reported to be hiding on Thursday morning, but found it had been abandoned shortly before they arrived, reports said. 

The camp was located in a rubber plantation near Ban Chalung in tambon Chalung of Hat Yai district. 

It is believed the Rohingya were moved out of the camp by the smugglers only a few hours before the raid. 

The raiding team was led by Hat Yai district chief Seri Panichkul, Pol Maj Itthipol Promduang, director of the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) operations centre for the southern border provinces, and Pol Lt-Col Piyavich Kraipanuch, secretary of the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS). 

Pol Maj Itthipol said the camp was located on a rai of land near a canal. There were four temporary shelters built with plastic sheets, and a kitchen with utensils, gas stoves and rice left in it. 

There were also two temporary toilets and five hammocks hung around the perimeter of the camp. 

Pol Maj Itthipol said the raid was carried out on information obtained from other Rohingya migrants who were rescued from a camp near the Thai-Malaysian border.