—
THE GLOBALIZATION OF CRIME CONTINUES TO BE REWARDING FOR THOSE INVOLVED. It allows supply to be channeled to places where there is demand, whatever the product or service.
International, organized crime is everywhere.
—
Malaysians likely behind #Thailand Songkhla human trafficking camp, says NGO http://bit.ly/1DRBnps
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – There is a high possibility that Malaysians are involved in border human trafficking related to the mass grave that was uncovered last week in Songkhla, Thailand, says Malaysian non-government organisation Tenaganita, or Women’s Force.
“From the testimonies of the migrant and refugee communities, in particularly the Myanmar, Rohingyas and Bangladeshi communities, Malaysians are very much involved in the trafficking of persons at the Thailand-Malaysia border,” said Glorene Das, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based human rights group.
—
Four arrests over discovery of Thai ‘detention camp,’ graves http://ift.tt/1FMNVUV [Sale http://goo.gl/WWxS1W ] #news
—
Thailand mass graves reveal migrant-slave deaths and media shackles http://bit.ly/1bqDEBf via @crikey_news
—
This second camp was uncovered just one kilometre from the one found earlier.
#Thailand‘s police find graves at second migrant jungle camp http://bit.ly/1ETDYo6
BANGKOK (AFP) – Investigators in southern Thailand have discovered five graves at a second remote jungle camp believed to contain the remains of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, police said Tuesday.
The camp was uncovered just one kilometre from a similar encampment on a steep hillside close to the Malaysian border, where forensic teams found 26 bodies over the weekend, all but one buried in shallow graves.
“We found the second camp yesterday evening,” national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters, saying the location was close to the first camp which lay 25km west of Padang Besar in Thailand’s southern Songkhla province.
“We also found five graves but cannot yet confirm whether any bodies are in them. Authorities will look into this,” he added.
—
THIS MASS GRAVE IS AT AN ILLEGAL MIGRANT CAMP ACROSS THE THAI BORDER, JUST 300 METRES FROM PERLIS. The place was where they held illegal migrants who were on the way to Malaysia…
…
02 May 2015
Two survivors – men aged 25 and 35 – told doctors they had spent months at the camp despite falling sick and having little to eat.
Thai forensics exhume three skeletons from migrant mass grave http://cna.asia/1I0X0tF
PADANG BESAR: The badly decayed remains of at least three more migrants thought to be from Myanmar or Bangladesh were exhumed on Saturday (May 2) from a mass grave in southern Thailand, as details emerged of the maltreatment endured at the remote people smugglers’ camp.
Thai forensic teams dug out the latest skeletons from shallow graves covered by bamboo and few of feet of dirt on Saturday afternoon, according to an AFP reporter at the abandoned jungle camp in Sadao district, in Songkhla province.
Authorities have found the remains of least eight people since Friday’s grim discovery of the site, a find which has again laid bare Thailand’s central role in a regional human trafficking trade.
Police are investigating more than 20 other apparent graves in the area, which is a few hundred metres (yards) from the border with Malaysia.
—
30 graves found at suspected Thai trafficking camp: Police http://tdy.sg/1AoRMRW
—
#Thailand rescue teams bring down a dead #Rohingya body from human traffickers death camp on #Thai – #Malaysia border

Mass migrant graveyard: Over 30 graves in area used to smuggle migrants to Malaysia https://shar.es/1pKQFR #Thailand

…
…
Free Malaysia Today
Thais find mass graves of refugees 300m from Perlis
One man being treated in Padang Besar, decaying corpses of up to 50 Rohingya dug up.
SONGKHLA – The mass graves of up to 50 Rohingya refugees have been discovered at a human-trafficking camp only 300m from the border with Perlis, police said.
There was only one survivor, a man from Bangladesh, who is being treated at a hospital in Padang Besar, Perlis. The hospital confirmed he was extremely emaciated but was in stable condition, Reuters reported.
He may have been abandoned with a group that was moved across the border into Malaysia two days ago.
A police official in Songkhla said the Rohingya, who are Muslims from the border region between Bangladesh and Myanmar, may have starved to death or died of disease while waiting for ransoms to be paid for them to be smuggled into Malaysia, according to a Reuters report quoted by the Bangkok Post.
Villagers quoted by Thai television said the refugees had died of sickness and some died in fights after having quarrels among themselves. A tip-off by a Malaysian led Songkhla provincial police and soldiers to the camp, in mountainous jungle near Padang Besar.
Some of the bodies were buried, while others were covered with clothing and blankets, Police Col Weerasant Tharnpiem told The Associated Press.
…
Rohingya deaths: String of mass graves stretches from Burma to Thailand. http://ht.ly/MntVx


—
SEX SLAVES IN MALAYSIA!
Star
Friday April 17, 2015 MYT 7:00:56 AM
Three Ugandan sex slaves rescued
KUALA LUMPUR: The Uganda High Commission here has rescued three Ugandan women kept as sex slaves in Malaysia – and it is believed there are 20 more such women in the city.
The 20 are said to be in hiding, fearing arrest by the authorities or being hunted by their recruiters.
The high commmission said in a message to the Ugandan Foreign Ministry in Kampala that the three rescued women were scheduled to return home yesterday on an Ethiopian Airways flight.
The message said the women were victims of physical and mental abuse.
“The women experienced the most inhuman forms of mental and physical torture. We request that they are contacted by a social worker for counselling,” said the letter signed by high commission first secretary Samantha Mbabazi Sherurah.
High Commissioner Stephen Mubiru told Kampala’s New Vision daily in an interview on Tuesday that they were working with Malaysia’s security agencies to track down more victims.
“A number of Ugandan ladies and men are victims of human trafficking in Malaysia, China and (other) Asian countries. We are working hard to ensure the remaining victims return home,” he said.
Thursday April 16, 2015 MYT 5:57:41 PM
Ugandan sex slaves in Malaysia rescued, suffered ‘inhuman’ torture
KAMPALA: Uganda’s High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has rescued three Ugandan sex slaves in Malaysia.
In a diplomatic note to the Foreign Affairs Ministry here, it said that the three girls were scheduled to return home on Thursday via an Ethiopian Airways flight.
The High Commission’s first secretary Samantha Mbabazi Sherurah said the young women suffered physical and mental abuse.
“The three ladies have experienced the most inhuman forms of mental and physical torture. We request that they are contacted by a social worker for counselling,” she said.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/04/16/Uganda-Malaysia/
—
MODERN SLAVERY ON THE ISLAND OF BENJINA, INDONESIA
For Burmese slaves, Benjina is the end of the world.
…
AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION LED TO FREEDOM FOR THESE MODERN SLAVES, WHO WERE SET FREE AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF INDONESIAN OFFICIALS.
In a year-long investigation, the AP talked to more than 40 current and former slaves in Benjina. The AP documented the journey of a single large shipment of slave-caught seafood from the Indonesian village, tracking it by satellite to a gritty Thai harbor. Upon its arrival, AP journalists followed trucks that loaded and drove the seafood over four nights to dozens of factories, cold storage plants and the country’s biggest fish market.
The tainted seafood mixes in with other fish at a number of sites in Thailand, including processing plants. U.S. Customs records show that several of those Thai factories ship to America. They also sell to Europe and Asia, but the AP traced shipments to the U.S., where trade records are public.
—
Freed from modern slavery at last!
Over 300 slave fishermen rescued from Indonesian island where they’re forced to catch seafood http://tdy.sg/1c02f0F
Thai seafood exporters ‘use slaves’ http://bit.ly/1D3egMY
At first the men filtered in, by twos and threes, hearing whispers of a possible rescue. Then, as the news rippled around the remote island in Indonesia’s Maluku province, north of Australia, hundreds of weathered former and current slaves streamed out.
They came from trawlers and villages, even out of the jungle, running toward what they had only dreamed of for years: Freedom.
…
The Burmese men were among hundreds of migrant workers revealed in an Associated Press investigation to have been lured or tricked into leaving their countries to go to Thailand, where they were put on boats and brought to Indonesia.
From there, they were forced to catch seafood that was shipped back to Thailand and exported to consumers around the world, including the United States.
In response to the AP’s findings, Indonesian officials visited the Aru Islands village of Benjina, southwest of New Guinea island, yesterday and offered immediate evacuation after finding brutal conditions, down to an “enforcer” paid to beat men up.
The officials first gave the invitation for protection just to a small group of men who talked openly about their abuse.
But then Asep Burhanuddin, director-general of Indonesia’s Marine Resources and Fisheries Surveillance, said everybody was welcome, including those hiding in the forest.
“They can all come,” he said. “We don’t want to leave a single person behind.”
About 320 men took up the offer. Even as a downpour started, some dashed through the rain.
AP Investigation: Are slaves catching the fish you buy?
BENJINA, Indonesia (AP) — The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home.
Just a few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of major supermarkets, restaurants and even pet stores in the United States.
But the eight imprisoned men were considered flight risks — laborers who might dare run away. They lived on a few bites of rice and curry a day in a space barely big enough to lie down, stuck until the next trawler forces them back to sea.
…
Here, in the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries in the seafood industry. This intricate web of connections separates the fish we eat from the men who catch it, and obscures a brutal truth: Your seafood may come from slaves.
The men the AP interviewed on Benjina were mostly from Myanmar, also known as Burma, one of the poorest countries in the world. They were brought to Indonesia through Thailand and forced to fish. Their catch was then shipped back to Thailand, where it entered the global stream of commerce.
Tainted fish can wind up in the supply chains of some of America’s major grocery stores, such as Kroger, Albertsons and Safeway; the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart; and the biggest food distributor, Sysco. It can find its way into the supply chains of some of the most popular brands of canned pet food, including Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams. It can turn up as calamari at fine dining restaurants, as imitation crab in a California sushi roll or as packages of frozen snapper relabeled with store brands that land on our dinner tables.
—
No such thing as a child prostitute, anti-trafficking groups say
Rights4Girls, with support from Google and the McCain Institute, is leading the No Such Thing campaign, which calls upon policymakers, law enforcement and others to eradicate the term child prostitute.
No such thing as a child prostitute, anti-trafficking groups say http://tdy.sg/147atPO
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Children sold for sex are crime victims and should not be branded as prostitutes, anti-slavery advocates said on Thursday in launching a U.S. campaign to raise awareness of child sex trafficking and to change how its victims are treated.
The term “child prostitute” implies that consent was involved when in fact there was no such thing, they said. Underage girls and boys who are forced to sell their bodies have very little choice when traffickers fully control them through violence, manipulation and coercion.
“Girls repeatedly raped and exploited are not prostitutes. They are victims and survivors of child rape and they deserve all the support and services we provide other abused children,” Malika Saada Saar, director of Rights4Girls, a human rights group focused on gender-based violence against girls and young women, said at a seminar here.
Rights4Girls, with support from Google and the McCain Institute, is leading the No Such Thing campaign, which calls upon policymakers, law enforcement and others to eradicate the term child prostitute.
How people are named affects how they are treated, and youngsters not old enough to consent to legal sex, let alone commercial sex, cannot be considered prostitutes, they said.
http://www.todayonline.com/world/no-such-thing-child-prostitute-anti-trafficking-groups-say
—
THE OLDEST PROFESSION IN THE WORLD LINKS UP WITH THE NEW TECHNOLOGY!
Prostitution and the internet
More bang for your buck
How new technology is shaking up the oldest business
Sex workers who offer anal or spanking earn on average $25 or $50 more per hour, respectively http://econ.st/12uR5f6

FOR those seeking commercial sex in Berlin, Peppr, a new app, makes life easy. Type in a location and up pops a list of the nearest prostitutes, along with pictures, prices and physical particulars. Results can be filtered, and users can arrange a session for a €5-10 ($6.50-13) booking fee. It plans to expand to more cities.
Peppr can operate openly since prostitution, and the advertising of prostitution, are both legal in Germany. But even where they are not, the internet is transforming the sex trade. Prostitutes and punters have always struggled to find each other, and to find out what they want to know before pairing off. Phone-box “tart cards” for blonde bombshells and leggy señoritas could only catch so many eyes. Customers knew little about the nature and quality of the services on offer. Personal recommendations, though helpful, were awkward to come by. Sex workers did not know what risks they were taking on with clients.
Now specialist websites and apps are allowing information to flow between buyer and seller, making it easier to strike mutually satisfactory deals. The sex trade is becoming easier to enter and safer to work in: prostitutes can warn each other about violent clients, and do background and health checks before taking a booking. Personal web pages allow them to advertise and arrange meetings online; their clients’ feedback on review sites helps others to proceed with confidence.
To read the rest of the article, click on:
—
Amnesty International says around 500,000 people die every year and millions are injured, raped or forced into exile because of a lack of regulation of the arms trade.
Channel News Asia
Global arms treaty enters into force on Wednesday
24 Dec 2014 06:26
UNITED NATIONS, United States: A treaty laying down international rules for the US$85 billion (S$112.6 billion) global arms trade goes into force on Wednesday (Dec 24), with campaigners vowing to make sure it is strictly implemented.
The United States – by far the world’s largest arms producer and exporter – has signed the treaty, but has yet to ratify it. Other key exporters such as France, Britain and Germany have ratified the charter and pledged to adhere to its strict criteria aimed at cutting off weapons supplies to human rights violators worldwide.
“For too long, arms and ammunition have been traded with few questions asked about whose lives they will destroy,” said Anna Macdonald, director of the Control Arms coalition of non-governmental organisations. “The new Arms Trade Treaty which enters into force this week will bring that to an end.”
“It is now finally against international law to put weapons into the hands of human rights abusers and dictators,” she said.
A total of 130 countries have signed the treaty and 60 have ratified it, including Israel which joined the movement just this month.
…
Amnesty International noted that five of the top 10 arms exporters – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain – have ratified the ATT. China and Russia have yet to sign on.
The first major arms accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the ATT covers international transfers of everything from tanks to combat aircraft to missiles, as well as small arms. The treaty compels countries to set up national controls on arms exports. States must assess whether an exported weapon could circumvent an international embargo, be used for genocide and war crimes or be used by terrorists and organized crime.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/global-arms-treaty-enters/1546924.html?cid=FBINT
—
MODERN SLAVERY IN MALAYSIA
Star
Saturday December 13, 2014 MYT 7:21:49 AM
Men believed to be human trafficking victims found confined in a house
Locked up: Some of the foreigners are seen inside one of the rooms of the house in Taman Sejati Indah in Sungai Petani.
SUNGAI PETANI: Police rescued 46 foreigners, comprising of Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals, who were confined in a house in Taman Sejati Indah here.
Aged between 18 and 45, they appeared tired when they were found inside the double-storey house at about 4am yesterday after residents, who heard a continuous commotion, alerted the police at the beat base in the neighbourhood.
Believed to be human trafficking victims, the foreigners told police they had not eaten for several days.
…
Kuala Muda district police chief Asst Comm Khalil Arifin said the 46 foreigners rescued did not have valid travel documents and were believed to have been locked up in the house to be sent to other locations later.
One of them said he had entered the country 12 days ago and was then sent to the house.
ACP Khalil said police arrested a Malaysian and two Bangladeshis, in their 40s, shortly after the rescue.
He urged those with information to call the Kuala Muda district police headquarters at 04-429 9222.
—

Modern Day Slavery in Malaysia can be categorized into 9 main areas
Domestic Workers
They are abused and mistreated by irresponsible and abusive employers. Often times they are not paid their wages and work 7 days a week with little rest.
Foreign Migrant Workers
Foreigners following the promise of a better job are tricked and mistreated. They do not receive their wages and are possibly tricked into gaining more debts that they could not repay. This happens in every industry – even small businesses.
Fishermen
Local poor families and poverty stricken migrant workers are lured into working in the fishing industry. These workers are often tricked into working as fisherman with promises of high profits, but some are even kidnapped and forced onto the boats. Fisherman work up to years on the boats, where they can be abused, mistreated, and even murdered at the pleasure of captors.
Sex trafficking
Women and children are abducted then sold to prostitution syndicates in Malaysia and across our borders. Cases involving young women being tricked into a romantic relationship and having compromising/ naked photos of them taken, which are used to blackmail them into involuntary sex/ prostitution have been reported.
There are more than 142,000 prostitution in Malaysia and thousands of them are sex -trafficking victims.
Pedophilia
Victims of pedophilia are usually boys aged 13 or younger. Culprits abduct the children, bring them across borders, solicit them for sexual acts, and prostitute them to tourists and other pedophiles.
In 2007, more than 1,080 children were reported missing in Malaysia. Many were believed to have been abducted as most of the children were below the age of 12 years. Today the authorities have yet to disclose the latest numbers due to the increase of missing children.
Organ Trafficking
Young people are abducted for their organs, which are sold on the black market. Perpetrators find victims in places such as clubs or pubs and get them drunk or drug them. While the victim is alive but unconscious, the perpetrator harvests the victim’s organs.
Mail-Order Brides
A number of women are tricked by agencies promising them jobs in Malaysia. Instead, when they arrive, they are sold as brides to men. These men, however, are under the impression that they are paying for women who came to Malaysia as voluntary mail-order brides.
Forced Begging
Children, abducted or kidnapped, are forced to beg for money. Sometimes their captors inflict injuries on the children so that they gain sympathy from the public. Cases have been reported in our neighboring countries.
Baby Trafficking
Women become impregnated with the intent to sell their babies for a profit. University students are usually the main target as they need money for fees and other things. These women are paid according to the quality of the baby. The price per baby ranges from RM20,000 –RM60,000.(source from Tenaganita)
http://www.changeyourworld.com.my/about-us/modern-day-slavery/
—
While Malaysia is nowhere near the Big Boys of modern slavery, such as India (14 million) and China (3.2 million), there are 140,000 modern slaves in the country.
Malaysiakini
9:00PM Nov 18, 2014
Study: 140,000 modern- day slaves in Malaysia

According to the Global Slavery Index 2014, 142,600 or 0.48 percent of Malaysia’s population of 30 million are caught in modern slavery.
This places Malaysia at 56th place out of the 167 countries surveyed by the Walk Free Foundation.
Malaysia was graded as ‘CCC’, which generally means it has limited policy to curb slavery and provides little support for victims.
The best rating given by the index is ‘AAA’ while the lowest is ‘D’.
In the Asia Pacific, this is only better than North Korea, which is graded as ‘D’ for failure to criminalise modern slavery.
North Korea is in fact, the only country in the world that has not explicitly criminalised any form of modern slavery.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/280905
—
Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and for men, women, and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor.
Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Vietnam for work – usually legal, contractual labor – and are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude in the domestic, agricultural, food service, construction, plantation, industrial, and fisheries sectors.
Some foreign women and girls are also victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
– U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Malaysia.htm
—
‘Big business’: Modern slavery sees up to 36million people subjugated worldwide
Modern slavery: World’s worst 10 states – 14 mn in India alone http://on.rt.com/rw0bf2


Nearly 36 million people across the world are involved in some form of slavery, from forced labor to forced marriage, a survey by a global human rights organization has revealed, describing modern slavery as a “hidden crime” and “big business.”
Modern slavery contributes to the production of at least 122 goods from 58 countries worldwide, according to the report by the Australian anti-slavery campaign group Walk Free. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the illicit profits of forced labor to be $150 billion a year.
“From the Thai fisherman trawling fishmeal, to the Congolese boy mining diamonds, from the Uzbek child picking cotton, to the Indian girl stitching footballs, from the women who sew dresses, to the cocoa pod pickers, their forced labor is what we consume. Modern slavery is big business,” Walk Free states in its report, claiming it has found evidence of slavery in all 167 countries it surveyed.
…
The 10 countries with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery as a proportion of population are Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Qatar, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Syria and the Central African Republic.
For the second year running, India has turned out to be home to the greatest number of slaves, with over 14 million people in its population of 1.25 billion labeled as victims of slavery, spanning from prostitution to forced labor and making up nearly 40 percent of people in slavery worldwide.
The other nine countries with largest estimated numbers of people in modern slavery are China (3.2 million), Pakistan (2.1 million), Uzbekistan (1.2 million), Russia (1.05 million), Nigeria (834,200), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (762,900), Indonesia (714,100), Bangladesh (680,900) and Thailand (475,300). Taken together, these 10 countries account for 71 percent of the total estimated 35.8 million people living in modern slavery these days.
http://rt.com/news/206459-modern-slavery-people-report/
—
Star
Friday October 31, 2014 MYT 6:59:22 AM
Datuk found guilty of money laundering
KOTA KINABALU: A Datuk behind a multi-million gold trading pyramid scheme has been sentenced to five years’ jail after she was found guilty of money laundering and receiving illegal deposits.
Worldwide Far East Bhd director Datuk Noor Ismahanum Mohd Ismail, 33, was also slapped with a RM2.55mil fine by Sessions Court judge Azreena Aziz yesterday.
Ismahanum from Perak pleaded guilty to the charges against her and her company on Tuesday.
She is accused of receiving deposits of about RM3.88mil from the public without a valid licence under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989.
She received the illegal deposits through a scheme involving gold transactions at the Marina Court condominium at the state capital between Dec 6 and Dec 28, 2010.
Her company was also charged with committing the same offence between Dec 28, 2010 and April 23, 2012 at Wisma Fok Loi here.
Ismahanum and her company were each charged with 57 counts of money laundering in Kuala Lumpur involving RM6.25mil between July 4, 2011 and Dec 31, 2012.
—–
THE ILLEGAL REFUGEES CAUGHT MAY BE JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!
Malaysia is an important destination for political and religious refugees: the business for human traffickers is booming!
Thousands of Rohingya – a Muslim minority group not recognised as citizens in Myanmar – have fled deadly communal unrest in Rakhine since 2012, mostly heading for Malaysia.
Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya – described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world – as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and denies them citizenship.
Star
Saturday October 11, 2014 MYT 9:35:26 PM
Thailand arrests 53 Rohingya migrants en route to Malaysia
BANGKOK: Thai authorities on Saturday arrested 53 Rohingya migrants and two suspected Thai traffickers en route to Malaysia, an official said.
The migrants were found on a rubber plantation in Takua Pa district in the southern coastal province of Phang Nga, district chief Manit Phianthong told AFP.
“We got a tip-off from an informant that a trafficking gang would be transporting Rohingya people to Malaysia,” he said, adding that the migrants came from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state and Bangladesh.
…
The migrants arrested Saturday were ferried onto the Thai mainland from a small island in the Andaman Sea, Manit said, adding that one of the arrested traffickers confessed he was part of a bigger gang.
“We are still looking for the real masterminds,” said the official.
Twelve Rohingya migrants are thought to have escaped during the raid, he added.
…
Thailand arrests 53 Rohingya migrants–official http://inq.ph/1p0D6CW
BANGKOK–Thai authorities on Saturday arrested 53 Rohingya migrants and two suspected Thai traffickers en route to neighboring Malaysia, an official said.
The migrants were found on a rubber plantation in Takua Pa district in the southern coastal province of Phang Nga, district chief Manit Phianthong told AFP.
—
Refugees, including those seeking political asylum, are vulnerable to human traffickers.
People-smuggling is one of Gaza’s few growing industries http://econ.st/ZCh6ID
Gaza after the war
A sea of despair
Desperate Palestinians become boat people
Home, wrecked home
IN THEIR garden, strewn with the rubble of three destroyed houses, the young men of the Qudeih family flick through pictures of Hamada, their 26-year-old brother. He had joined the new wave of boat people escaping the Gaza Strip after a 50-day war with Israel. But there has been no news of Hamada since his rickety vessel, carrying hundreds of Palestinians, set off on September 6th and sank off the coast of Malta. His father, Abdel-Halim, borrowed $3,500 to pay smugglers to take him to Europe.
…
Yet Hamas knows that flaunting its guns means that Israel is bound to block any agreement, and the reconstruction of Gaza will be stymied. No wonder its people are desperate to get out.
—
Star
Saturday October 4, 2014 MYT 7:14:11 AM
155 Uighur illegals detained
…
NST
155 Uighurs found holed up in two Bukit Jalil apartment units
3 October 2014 @ 8:03 AM
HANI SHAMIRA SHAHRUDIN

..
KUALA LUMPUR: Immigration officers, acting on a tip-off, stormed into two apartment units in Taman Bukit Jalil, only to uncover what is believed to be human trafficking activities.
They found 155 illegal immgrants from Xinjiang, China, including 76 children and babies holed up in the two apartment units.
…
Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department enforcement division chief Basri Hassan said there were 65 immigrants in the first unit, a three-bedroom apartment.
“All 65 immigrants including 32 children were found sleeping in cramped conditions during the raid,” he said.
In the second unit, officers found another 90 people including 44 children residing in the apartment.
—
Human trafficking is profitable. For the human traffickers. Not for the victims.
Malaysia has just arrested 5 members of a gang of traffickers and rescued 28 victims. That’s just the tip of the ice-berg.
Star
Tuesday September 30, 2014 MYT 10:11:52 PM
Cops nab 5, rescue 28 from alleged human trafficking ring
NIBONG TEBAL: Police arrested five Myanmar men, believed to be members of a human trafficking syndicate, and rescued 28 of their countrymen in a raid on a shophouse in Sungai Bakap, here, Monday.
South Seberang Perai (SPS) police chief Supt Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad said in the 6pm raid, police detained 33 Myanmar nationals including a four-year-old boy.
“The raid, with the cooperation of the state police contingent and Bukit Aman, was made following a police report by a Myanmar national who claimed his sister, brother-in-law and their son, aged four, were being detained by the syndicate.
Bernama
—
Europol (short for European Police Office) is the European Union‘s law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence. It became fully operational on 1 July 1999.
Europol’s aim is to improve the effectiveness and co-operation between the competent authorities of the member states primarily by sharing and pooling intelligence to prevent and combat serious international organized crime. Its mission is to make a significant contribution to the European Union‘s law enforcement efforts targeting organized crime.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europol)
…
Over 1,000 arrested in unprecedented swoop: Europol http://bit.ly/1rk0QVI pic.twitter.com/0tkrwrVNfp

..
Police have arrested more than 1,000 suspects and rescued at least 30 trafficked children in an unprecedented swoop on organised crime groups across Europe, Europol’s chief said.
The continent-wide raids targeted gangs involved in people trafficking, cybercrime, narcotics and illegal gun trafficking, among others.
Carried out by some 20,000 officers between September 15-23, Operation Archimedes “was the single largest coordinated assault an organised crime in Europe,” Rob Wainwright told reporters in The Hague.
“The scale of the operation is unprecedented,” he added.
Police officers from all 28 European Union members, as well as Australia, Colombia, Norway, the United States, Serbia and Switzerland, carried out 250 operations in some 300 cities, ports and border crossings across Europe.
“We designed an operation specifically to hit criminal infrastructure,” Wainwright said at Europol’s fortress-like headquarters in The Hague.
“Multiple criminal enterprises, some of them the most serious, have been disrupted right across Europe,” he said, adding that the operation targeted “the infrastructure as a whole and not just isolated cases”.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2014/09/24/over-1000-arrested-in-unprecedented-swoop-europol
…
Exterior of the Europol headquarters (AFP Photo)

—
BROKERS/AGENTS organize group tours to a Southeast Asian country like Vietnam to meet or view prospective brides. The women are then tricked in to believing that they have been chosen by the men. A quick marriage in Vietnam is followed by being sold to buyers in China either as brides to countryside villagers or to prostitution rings. That, of course, is human trafficking.
#China to crack down on ‘foreign bride’ websites on human trafficking, prostitution fears http://bit.ly/1pgbecI pic.twitter.com/vX2jVrrxdR

BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese police will clamp down on websites that sell men group tours to meet “foreign brides” in South-east Asian countries, as the practice leads to human trafficking and prostitution, the state-run China Daily reported on Monday.
The newspaper noted several so-called “marriage brokerages” were active in Vietnam, promising young women introductions to rich Chinese men from big cities, whereas many victims ended up duped into being “sold” as brides to villagers in rural China. The newspaper said some Vietnamese girls were forced to become prostitutes in coastal or border areas of China such as Guangdong province.
“Some cross-border marriage brokerages or websites have been publishing tempting advertisements to introduce Vietnamese brides for cross-border marriages, but most involve kidnappings,” Mr Wang Ying, an official with the Ministry of Public Security responsible for combating human trafficking, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “Once their client takes a liking to a foreign girl, they cheat her and persuade her to have a wedding in Vietnam, then charge their male client 30,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan (S$6,176 to S$10,300) as a service charge.”
…
In December last year, police in China’s south-eastern Fujian province busted a people-trafficking ring, rescuing 28 Vietnamese women and arresting 62 suspects, most of whom worked at marriage agencies.
—–
THE GLOBALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION, THE WORLD’S OLDEST PROFESSION: CHINA DOLLS ARE NOT ONLY IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA BUT IN TAIWAN, TOO!
China Smack

Mainland Women Who Go to Taiwan to Sell Sex Investigated, Over 100 Johns in 14 Days
September 3, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency [hereinafter referred to as TNIA] struck at the break of dawn, and cracked down on the largest prostitution ring in the Shuangbei area, arresting more than 20 suspects, a shocking number of people involved. According to Taiwan press, a mainland woman surnamed Wu who resembled mainland Chinese star Fan Bingbing had arrived in Taiwan under the guise of seeking medical/cosmetic consultation to commit prostitution. Due to her good look and skills in bed, she became a hot item, and in as short as 14 days, she had at least 110 customers. Just as she was about to return [back to mainland] with the money she made, she was arrested by the TNIA. According to the TNIA, there have consecutively more than 100 mainland women prostituting under this call-girl joint, and its annual profit was as much as 100 million yuan [NTD].
http://www.chinasmack.com/?p=59283
—–
Human trafficking is a lucrative illegal business and the money collected is ranked second behind drug trafficking in Malaysia.
NST
About 165 immigrants bound to be trafficked, rescued by police
By PHUAH KEN LIN – 28 August 2014 @ 9:42 PM
—
MONEY LAUNDERING
Money laundering is the process whereby the proceeds of crime are transformed into ostensibly legitimate money or other assets.
Money obtained from certain crimes, such as extortion, insider trading, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and tax evasion is “dirty”. It needs to be cleaned to appear to have derived from non-criminal activities so that banks and other financial institutions will deal with it without suspicion.
Originally, the term applied to real money but now money laundering applies to the proceeds of crime that are laundered using a variety of monetary instruments including securities, digital currencies such as bitcoin, credit cards, and traditional currency. Money can be laundered by many methods, which vary in complexity and sophistication.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering)
…
the Sundaily
Two men charged with money laundering involving more than RM1 mil
Last updated on 22 August 2014 – 07:33pm
MALACCA: Two men were charged in separate Sessions Court here today with 100 counts of money laundering, involving RM1.86 million.
Both pleaded not guilty to the charges. In the court before Judge Amran Jantan, businessman Alex Chong Siau Meng was charged with 80 counts of money laundering, involving RM1.66 million.
He was alleged to have accepted between RM10,000 and RM200,000, which were from ill-gotten gains, by transferring the money from the OUB bank account of Lim Guat Moey, 48, into his account.
The offences were allegedly committed at the Batu Berendam Public Bank branch and the UOB Bank branches at the Malim Business Park and Plaza Mahkota here between Dec 3, 2010 and July 10, 2012.
…
In another court, before Judge Ahmad Sazali Omar, Low Kim Hsen, 26, who works at a computer game shop, was charged with 20 counts of money laundering, involving RM195,611.
Low is charged with receiving between RM7,311 and RM10,000 from ill-gotten gains, which were transferred from the OUB accounts belonging to Chong and Lim into his OUB bank account.
The offences were allegedly committed between Jan 25 and July 27, 2011 at the Malim branch UOB here.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1148163
—–
GLOBAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING is big business, bringing huge profits from human misery.
Human trafficking is one of the most evil crimes and it always involves an abuse of (multiple) universal human rights. Human trafficking typically comes with criminal activities such as coercive recruiting, forcing people to work, illegal transfer & transport of people (usually across borders but also within countries) as well physical and other exploitation. Unfortunately trafficking is so common, that many HUNDRED thousands of children and adults (men as well as women) experience this degrading crime. Virtually every country in the world is affected. And even worse: It is not easily stopped.
(http://www.humantraffickingstatistics.net/)
…
—
Unraveling the mystery of the Tilbury port immigrants – watch #c4news http://bit.ly/1sN7qqz pic.twitter.com/N4v6RzKzL8

—
TILBURY DOCKS
International Business Times
Tilbury Docks: Belgian Police Recover CCTV Footage of Driver and Lorry Carrying 35 Immigrants
-

By Priya Joshi
August 17, 2014 20:25 BST

Women can be heard crying and screaming as the group – believed to be Afghan Sikhs – were freed from the container by police and border staff
Dramatic Video: Terrified INDIAN Immigrants Freed From Shipping Container At Tilbury Docks!!!
—
ESSEX POLICE
People found in container at Tilbury Docks
Updated: Sunday August 17, 2014 7.30pm
Essex Police can confirm that the number of people found inside the container at the Port of Tilbury is 35, including the man that died.
Four people are still in Southend Hospital, where it is thought they will remain overnight. Their details are being determined.
The other 30 people are still being spoken to about their ordeal. Once this is finished they will be passed into the care of the Border Force. They include nine men and eight women aged between 18 and 72-years-old. They also include 13 children, aged between one and 12-years-old.
Updated: Sunday August 17, 2014 2pm
Essex Police and Border Force officers are continuing with their enquiries today following the discovery of 35 people in a container at the Port of Tilbury on the morning of Saturday, August 16.
The group of men, women and children was found inside the container by port staff just after 6.30am. Unfortunately one man was discovered to be dead inside. The other 34 people were taken for treatment at Southend, Basildon and the Royal London hospitals.
Superintendent Trevor Roe, of Essex Police, said: “This is a tragic incident where a man has sadly died. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his relatives. Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate have launched a homicide investigation to find out what happened.
http://www.essex.police.uk/news_features/homepage_latest_news/31_people_found_in_container_a.aspx
—
Port of Tilbury death. Update from Essex Police. Youngest aged One. Oldest 72. Deceased was in his forties. http://www.yourthurrock.com/Report-incident-Port-Tilbury/story-22755934-detail/story.html …
———————————————————————————————————————————-
Collected News
bangkokdave 

The Australian
RT
Inquirer Group 



Times LIVE
ST Foreign Desk
Channel 4 News