HAT YAI – Officials from Songkhla Immigration Police and Hat Yai Police Station confirmed on February 9 the arrest of Mr. Ye Nai, a 37-year-old Burmese man who is suspected of flogging two Rohingya women. Another 14-year-old youngster who escaped claimed he had also been whipped.
Ye was caught in front of a home in Village 1, Khuan Lang Subdistrict, Hat Yai District. The house he rented on 38 Phetkasem Road was also searched.
Mr. Ye told police that he housed three foreigners from a forest in Songkhla province in his rented house while he waited for an intermediary to bring them to Malaysia. He was paid 500 baht per person to look after them.
As for the pictures and video clips found on his phone, Mr. Ye did not want to give any details.
The woman, who was arrested with Mr. Ye and flogged in the clip, said she and other immigrants sneaked into the country through a natural canal in Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot district in Tak province. They had already paid 10 million kyat (about $4,770) in late January to an intermediary who helped them sneak into the country to find relatives in Malaysia.
When she and 10 others traveled by truck to a forest in Songkhla Province, some of the group split up to sneak into Malaysia. She and the rest were picked up to stay at the rented house. While there, they were not allowed to go outside because the door was locked.
During that time, Mr. Ye ordered Mr. Jo, a Burmese man who was traveling with them, to help beat her in order to take a video clip to send to her relatives to demand an additional 500,000 kyats ($240) for travel expenses. Those who paid in full would be allowed to continue traveling, but she and two other immigrants had not yet received additional money from their relatives, so they were detained.
In the meantime, a 14-year-old Rohingya boy who was also whipped managed to escape and asked for help from the villagers. This led to the police investigating and arresting Mr. Ye on February 7, 2024.
The authorities charged Mr. Ye with harboring, concealing or assisting aliens in any way to avoid arrest, punishable by imprisonment of not more than five years and a fine of not more than fifty thousand baht.
