They came as tourists, but later six Indians were found working as ice cream vendors. They were arrested with an ice cream truck parked at their residence.
On May 19, 2023, officers from Hat Yai Tourist Police, Immigration Police, and Tamhod Police Station in Phatthalung Province, southern Thailand, arrested six Indian nationals who were engaged in the sale of ice cream as a profession, despite being in possession of a tourist visa and having overstayed their right to reside in the Kingdom.
Authorities conducted a search and found the group of Indian men at their rented house in Moo 1, Mae Kari Subdistrict, Tamot District, Phatthalung Province. There were a total of seven people present, including a father and son.
They all had Indian passports showing their entry into Thailand at different times. Some had entered in 2020 while others came in 2022. They posed as tourists but were selling ice cream in the Mae Khari sub-district in Phatthalung province. There was also an ice cream lorry parked near their rented room.
The police took control of the situation and handed over the case to the Tamhod police station. The persons were charged with exceeding their permitted period of stay in the kingdom without proper authorisation. They had failed to leave Thailand within the prescribed period of 90 days or more. As a result, each person was fined 20,000 baht and subsequently deported, with a ban on re-entry into Thailand for the period exceeding the permitted length of stay.
Local residents walk past damaged buildings after Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe township, Rakhine State, Myanmar, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Myanmar’s military information office said the storm had damaged houses and electrical transformers in Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, and Gwa townships. (AP Photo)
The official death toll from the powerful cyclone that struck Myanmar has burgeoned to at least 145, including 117 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority, state television reported Friday.
It said the figure applied to the western state of Rakhine, where Cyclone Mocha did the most damage, but did not say how many storm-related deaths there have been in other parts of the country.
The accounting of casualties from the cyclone has been slow, in part due to communication difficulties in the affected areas and the military government’s tight control over information. The military government has said that unofficial death tolls surpassing 400 are false, but in the absence of independent confirmation, uncertainly remains about the actual extent of casualties and destruction.
Cyclone Mocha roared in from the Bay of Bengal on Sunday with high winds and rain slamming a corner of neighboring Bangladesh and a wider swath of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state. It made landfall near Rakhine’s Sittwe township with winds of up to 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour before weakening to a tropical depression Monday as it moved inland.
An aerial view of damage buildings after Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe township, Rakhine State, Myanmar. (Military True News Information Team via AP)
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said widescale destruction of homes and infrastructure was seen throughout Rakhine state.
“Urgent needs include shelter, clean water, food assistance and healthcare services,” it said. “There are rising concerns in flooded areas about the spread of waterborne disease and the movement of landmines,” a legacy of civil conflict that has been going on in Myanmar for decades.
“The impact of the cyclone was also felt heavily in the country’s northwest where houses were blown or washed away. Strong winds and rains have also damaged camps for displaced people in Kachin state,” the U.N. agency said.
Three Indian navy ships carrying relief material reached Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, on Thursday and a fourth ship will arrive Friday, said India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Yangon is south of the cyclone-hit area and has a major international port.
“The ships are carrying emergency food items, tents, essential medicines, water pumps, portable generators, clothes, sanitary and hygiene items,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.
Soldiers and members of fire service help to repair a damaged buildings after Cyclone Mocha in Pyapon township, Ayeyarwaddy Delta, Myanmar. (Military True News Information Team via AP)
India has been the first responder to climate-related disasters in the region.
Refugee camps in Bangladesh, where more than 700,000 members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority fled in 2017 to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, missed the brunt of the storm with no reported deaths, thanks in part to a well-organized evacuation, but housing was severely damaged.
Many of the Rohingya who stayed in Myanmar after being made homeless by the 2017 attacks by security forces were settled in crowded displacement camps on the outskirts of Sittwe, where their ramshackle housing on low-lying land was reportedly swept away by the storm surge.
There are fears that there could be many fatalities in the Sittwe camps, but independent confirmation is difficult because of post-storm conditions and long-standing government restrictions meant to isolate the camps.
“Bridges have collapsed to the west of downtown Sittwe following #CycloneMocha, leaving only one access route to camps in the area,” Ben Small, who works for the U.N. Development Program in Myanmar, said on Twitter. “This further hinders humanitarian access. They urgently need repairing.”
This photo provided by Myanmar Military True News Information Team on Monday, May 15, 2023, shows an aerial view of damage buildings after Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe township, Rakhine State, Myanmar.
A Rohingya who does relief work at one of the camps said by phone Thursday that they were instructed by the authorities not to provide information to the media.
Rakhine state spokesperson and attorney general Hla Thein issued a qualified denial of reports that hundreds of people had died, from other ethnic groups as well as the Rohingya. He said confirmation of further deaths would require investigations, including inspections of burial places.
Hla Thein said the authorities had warned people in the camps to move to safer places days before the storm hit, but some stayed until seawater poured in, wreaking destruction. He said the government was trying to send relief supplies to affected areas and there were no restrictions on relief organizations in sending aid, an assertion that could not immediately be confirmed.
A leader of a local charity group helping to collect data about casualties inside the Rohingya camps and nearby villages said Thursday that the bodies of at least 116 people from 15 camps and villages, including 32 children and 46 women, had been given burial rites.
He requested that neither he nor his organization be identified because of possible punishment by the authorities.
The charity worker said reports of higher death tolls may have resulted from misunderstandings due to communication breakdowns which also prevented the authorities from getting an accurate count.
The Associated Press could not independently confirm any of the casualty figures.
Lee Kum Kee, the inventor of Oyster Sauce and a globally renowned Asian sauce and condiment brand, will make its debut appearance at THAIFEX – Anuga Asia (“THAIFEX”) – the Asia’s largest and most comprehensive food and beverage tradeshow from 23 to 27 May 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand to continue to strengthen its presence in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
With the stringent quality management philosophy of “100-1=0” from farm to fork, Lee Kum Kee has become a world-renowned symbol of quality and trust. Lee Kum Kee upholds the spirit of Constant Entrepreneurship and has developed over 300 types of sauces and condiments for distributing to over 100 countries and regions. Lee Kum Kee is excited to participate in THAIFEX to provide foodservice solutions and innovative recipes to the visitors of the Asia’s largest food trade fair.
Lee Kum Kee’s booth will be located at Hall 10 (Booth no.: LL15, Fine Food Category) in IMPACT Muang Thong Thani. Themed “From Asia to Any Kitchen”, the booth will be transformed into “LEE KUM KEE Flavour Express” which symbolises the journey of bringing the flavours of Asia to any kitchen around the world and is set to inspire new possibilities along the way. The Company’s goal is to showcase the versatility and richness of Asian flavours through a wide range of signature products including oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and convenience sauces. LEE KUM KEE Flavour Express will also feature a series of engaging activities including cooking demonstration, product tasting and samples giveaway. One of the highlights will be the cooking demonstration by two celebrity chefs on 23 May – Chef Thanarak Chuto (Chef Pom) from Thailand and award-winning Master Chef Kwok-keung Chan from Hong Kong, China. They will present Asian delicacies with Lee Kum Kee sauces at the booth.
Chef Pom is second to none for Chinese food in the country. He offers contemporary Chinese cuisine with an emphasis on seasonal quality ingredients in Cantonese, Sichuan, Shanghai and Hong Kong styles. Award-winning Master Chef Kwok-keung Chan has over 35 years of culinary experience, he is an expert in the culinary styles of Huaiyang, Sichuan, Canton and Beijing.
Lee Kum Kee will also be the official premium sauce partner for the 9th Edition of Thailand Ultimate Chef Challenge (Asian Rice and Noodle category) with the aim of promoting culinary exchange, inspiring chefs on the diverse applications of Lee Kum Kee sauces and condiments and nurturing future culinary talents. The Challenge, which will take place at Hall 12 in IMPACT Muang Thong Thani during 23 – 27 May 2023, targets to bring over 700 professional and aspiring chefs worldwide to compete in 19 categories.
Join us to learn more about Lee Kum Kee’s quality sauces and condiments at THAIFEX:
Dr. Chuang Suo-Hang, a representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand, wrote the article “Sustainable Health Development in the Post-pandemic Era” to explain how Taiwan would continue to play a role in world health, according to the following message:
As the world enters the fourth year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation is gradually improving. Most border restrictions have been lifted and global health governance has shifted from pandemic response to post-pandemic recovery. Countries worldwide have stepped up efforts to achieve health and well-being for all and further the realization of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose progress was impacted by the pandemic.
Taiwan fully supports health-related SDGs and the World Health Organization’s triple billion targets. Indeed, Taiwan is committed to building a more resilient and equitable health service supply chain, maintaining an inclusive and equitable universal health coverage system, and providing disease prevention and management through a robust primary healthcare system.
Taiwan is willing and able to share its experience in creating a cross-sectoral, innovative, and people-centered health approach to help the international community work toward the realization of the SDGs related to health and well-being.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan effectively mitigated the spread of the disease, leveraging its comprehensive public healthcare system, well-trained antipandemic personnel, and epidemiological surveillance, investigation, and analysis systems. Taiwan’s antipandemic response model included advance deployment and rapid response mechanisms. Other measures included border control policies, coordinated distribution of medical resources, and a patient transfer system to prevent and contain the pandemic at a time when vaccines and antiviral drugs were unavailable.
The Taiwanese people have played a pivotal role in the success of Taiwan’s antipandemic model by wearing masks, practicing social distancing, avoiding crowded areas, following quarantine regulations, and getting vaccinated. When compared with the 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states and Singapore, Taiwan ranks sixth-lowest in COVID-19 mortality and case-fatality rates. Taiwan also ranks fourth-highest for coverage rates of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and third-highest in terms of vaccine boosters administered.
Dr. Chuang Suo-Hang, a representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand
Promoting health for all
Last year, WHO’s Director-General outlined five priorities for the subsequent five years, which are promoting health, providing health services, protecting health, powering progress, and performing. Moreover, WHO’s Achieving well-being: A draft global framework for integrating well-being into public health utilizing a health promotion approach further demonstrates its commitment to health for all.
Taiwan established a universal healthcare insurance system in 1995. Since that time, the government has continued to provide disease prevention and healthcare services so that people of all ages can enjoy the right to health. Taiwan provides prenatal checkups, gestational diabetes screening, anemia testing, and three ultrasound examinations to reduce pregnancy risks and promote maternal and infant health.
To assist infertile couples and reduce the financial burdens of in-vitro fertilization, the government has continued to expand subsidized infertility treatment programs. Taiwan also aims to create a breastfeeding-friendly environment and provide preventive pediatric healthcare and health education.
What’s more, Taiwan has established a number of prevention and management programs for noncommunicable diseases. For instance, programs targeting chronic metabolic diseases assist at-risk groups, providing services such as diet and exercise guidance as well as smoking and betel nut cessation information to empower people to take control of their own health. Such initiatives improve lives and reduce the prevalence of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, which often lead to chronic disease.
Taiwan also supports the global fight against cancer and WHO’s goal of reducing cancer mortality 25 percent by 2025. In line with WHO’s Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Taiwan subsidizes cervical screenings and human papillomavirus vaccinations. HPV vaccines have been administered to female students aged 12 to 15 since 2018. By December 2022, a coverage rate of 92.1 percent had been achieved.
Innovative technology and universal health coverage
Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) is a prime example of universal health coverage, offering financial protection and access to a wide range of essential services. The COVID-19 pandemic helped the international community recognize the importance of regional cooperation and digitization in healthcare. Taiwan is committed to promoting digital health and innovation to enhance the accessibility and quality of healthcare services, including plans for a next-generation NHI program.
Taiwan has introduced innovative healthcare services, utilizing real-time telehealth consultations for patients residing in remote areas and outlying islands, and is exploring applications for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. During the pandemic, Taiwan issued 13 export licenses for its herbal formula NRICM101 (Taiwan Chingguan Yihau) to help countries in the region combat the pandemic.
Taiwan is currently implementing preventive measures for the postpandemic era, such as strengthening the domestic production of critical drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients to avert future drug shortages. Understanding how important it is to work with the international community, Taiwan will further share innovative technologies and best practices with partners around the world to advance universal health coverage.
Taiwan can help, and Taiwan is helping
Taiwan has not been invited to the World Health Assembly since 2017. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is abating and dialogue on strengthening health systems worldwide is accelerating, Taiwan should not be left out. Taiwan can help, and Taiwan’s inclusion would make the world healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable.
Taiwan urges WHO and all relevant stakeholders to support Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly as an observer, as well as Taiwan’s full participation in WHO meetings, mechanisms, and activities. Taiwan will continue to work with the world to help ensure the fundamental right to health enshrined in the WHO Constitution. In the spirit of the SDGs, no country should be left behind—especially not Taiwan, which has made significant contributions to global public health.
An unidentified man on a motorbike took a Russian woman’s bag and harmed her in Bangkok’s Thong Lor district was arrested at Soi Yu Suk 30, Bang Mueang Mai Subdistrict, Mueang Samut Prakan District, according to the AirPods headphone signal.
On May 19, Pol. Col. Pansa Amarapitak, Superintendent of the Thonglor Police Station, announced that his team had arrested Mr. Thanakrit, 41, of Samut Prakan Province, on charges of ransacking by using a vehicle for the convenience of running around the property or taking that property or escaping arrest and causing bodily harm, to which Mr. Thanakrit confessed.
AirPods, helmets and a yellow Honda Scoopy motorcycle registered in Samut Prakan province were among the items seized.
Miss Natasia, 18, filed a complaint on May 18 alleging that she was attacked while walking to a convenience shop at 11:00 p.m. on May 17. A man riding a yellow motorbike approached her in front of The Shine, Sukhumvit 49/13, and took her bag, forcing her to fall and scrape the road. She suffered injuries to both knees, abrasions on her right arm, and scratches on both hands as a result. Bruises cover the body and face.
The driver drove away with her belongings: an iPhone 14 Pro Mac, Lilac Purple, AirPods Pro headphones, two lipsticks, and a blue wallet with approximately 1,000 baht in cash.
The Thonglor Police Station’s investigation team examined CCTV footage and discovered GPS signals from a Russian woman’s AirPods Pro, determining that the last position appeared at Soi Yu Suk 30, Samut Prakan Province. As a result, the police eventually tracked him out and arrested him.
The suspects at Highway Police Station 3 in Phitsanulok province on May 18, 2023.
PHITSANULOK — Police on Thursday said five people were arrested for smuggling Chinese and Kazakh nationals into Thailand.
Wanchana Muangchong, 53, and his four accomplices were arrested after police stopped them on a highway in Phitsanulok province and found the migrants, three Chinese and a Kazakh woman, hiding in their vehicles.
Pol. Col. Chanchai Innara, chief of Ubon Ratchathani investigation sub-division, said Wanchana confessed he was instructed to collect the migrants from Lao border in Ubon Ratchathani province and transport them to Myanmar border in Tak province.
Police believed the migrants were heading for Myanmar, where they would work for phone scam gangs targeting Thai and Chinese people.
The suspects were charged with assisting illegal entry into the kingdom, while the migrants were charged with illegal entry.
FILE - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
LONDON (AP) — The latest chapter in the drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan’s treatment by the tabloid media was much ado about something.
But exactly what happened Tuesday night in New York when the royals left a gala event and were followed by a group of photographers was not completely clear. No fender was bent. No traffic citations issued. Nobody was hurt.
What was evident is that the royal couple was shaken and the pursuit would likely only fuel Harry’s fury at the media as well as his greatest fear that his wife could meet the same fate as his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi.
The couple’s representatives claimed they had been pursued by photographers in a “near catastrophic car chase” through the streets of Manhattan. Police said the pursuit was relatively short, led to no injuries, collisions or arrests and warranted no further investigation. And a photo agency later contended it was Harry and Meghan’s security guards who acted recklessly.
Harry’s perception of what happened — and his whole relationship with the media — is undoubtedly colored by his mother’s fatal crash when he was just 12 years old.
“My mother was chased to her death,” Harry said in the mental health docuseries “The Me You Can’t See,” discussing his fears about Meghan being hounded by the media. “And now look what’s happened. You want to talk about history repeating itself? They’re not going to stop until she dies.”
Britain’s Prince Harry, center, arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice, in London, Monday, March 27, 2023. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/PA via AP)
Harry’s battle with the news media has taken two shapes: speaking out against his perceived mistreatment in what he has called his life’s mission to reform the press and taking tabloid publishers to court in London, where one case is currently on trial.
Security for Harry and Meghan has been an issue since the British government stripped them of protection when they moved to California in 2020, and it figures in three of his legal cases against the government and tabloid press. The couple have said they fund their own security.
The New York run-in occurred the same day a lawyer for Harry argued in a London court that he should be able to challenge a government decision denying him the right to pay police for his own security in the U.K.
New York City cab driver Sukhcharn Singh poses for a photo with his taxi in the Queens borough of New York, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were pursued in their car by photographers after a charity event in New York, Tuesday evening May 16, 2023. With the help of police, the couple was eventually able to switch to Singh’s taxi cab and be whisked away. (AP Photo/David R. Martin)
Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, has argued his safety was “compromised due to the absence of police protection” during a short visit to the U.K. in July 2021, when his car was chased by photographers as he left a charity event.
On Tuesday, Harry and Meghan, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and her mother, Doria Ragland, were leaving the Ms. Foundation Awards in Manhattan when photographers conducted a “relentless pursuit” that resulted in “multiple near collisions,” according to a spokesperson for the couple.
At one point, the couple sought refuge in a police station before attempting to evade the photographers in a yellow cab. The cab driver who drove Harry and Meghan said the photographers “were following us the whole time,” though he wouldn’t call it a chase.
In this image from video, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle exit Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ballroom on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 in New York. (AP Photo)
The account led New York Mayor Eric Adams to condemn the paparazzi pursuing them as “reckless and irresponsible.”
A photo agency issued a statement denying the freelance photographers involved had done anything wrong and insisting that they had “no intention of causing any distress or harm.”
On the contrary, Backgrid USA said the photographers present reported that part of Harry’s security escort “was driving in a manner that could be perceived as reckless.” But Backgrid also said it took the couple’s concerns seriously and would investigate.
In moving to the U.S., Harry and Meghan have tried to take control of the narrative. They stepped down as working royals in 2020, citing what they described as the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media toward Meghan, who is biracial.
FILE – Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, centre, accompanied by Britain’s Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and her mother Doria Ragland walk to attend a reception at Kensington Palace, in London, Sept. 20, 2018. . (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP, file)
They sat for a two-hour TV interview with Oprah, launched a six-part series on Netflix about their life together and Harry released his best-selling memoir, “Spare.”
The media blitz has been met with sympathy and contempt. British tabloid headlines about the couple are often negative.
In the U.S., the TV show “South Park” spoofed the couple in an episode called “The Worldwide Privacy Tour” in which the “prince and princess of Canada” – cartoonish Harry and Meghan lookalikes – jet around the planet in publicity spree to get people to stop talking about them. The episode was widely mentioned in the aftermath of the so-called chase.
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DANICA KIRKA, BRIAN MELLEY and SYLVIA HUI reported from London.
The Embassy of Japan in Thailand made an announcement on Thursday, May 18, to inform their citizens that there will be a protest rally in Bangkok on Friday, May 19. It is expected that the Red Shirts will hold a commemorative ceremony for the 13th anniversary of the military crackdown at the Rachaprason intersection, and in front of the Central World department store.
“According to internet information, anti-government groups are expected to hold a protest rally by anti-government groups and others at Rachaprason intersection (the intersection with Erawan Station) from around 4pm to 8pm on May 19th (Fri).
・In case of an accident, ensure your own safety, such as staying away from the protest rally.
・In the vicinity of the meeting place, traffic congestion and traffic restrictions are expected, and political meeting plans may suddenly change or add, so please be careful.
・ Depending on the circumstances, it may even affect the surrounding areas. As you try to get the latest relevant information, please be sure to avoid stopping in at the point of interest, and if you live in the area refrain from going out, please take good care of safety,” according to an announcement.
On May 19, 2010, soldiers were on the BTS station near Pathumwanaram Temple.
May 19 was the last day that the Thai military cracked down on the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protests in Ratchaprasong, central Bangkok, between 13–19 May 2010. It is the worst political violence in Bangkok for 18 years.
Armoured vehicles led the final assault into Ratchaprasong in the early morning of May 19. Soldiers were reported to have fired into Wat Pathum Wanaram, a Buddhist temple that had been used as a “safe zone”, killing six, including volunteer medical personnel.
“Here Someone Dies” Memorial Event at Ratchaprasong held last year.
By 1:30 pm, UDD leaders surrendered to police and told protesters to disperse. Dozens of arson attacks broke out nationwide. A curfew was declared and troops were authorized to shoot on sight anybody inciting unrest.
One Japanese had died in the crackdown against protesters on April 10, 2010 at Khok Wua Intersection and Dinso Road at the north side of the Democracy Monument. He was Hiroyuki Muramoto, a Japanese TV cameraman and journalist, who worked for Reuters.
Muramoto was shot and killed while covering violent clashes between Thai troops and anti-government protesters. The military later admitted that troops fired live rounds directly at protesters.
Online criticism grew after it was discovered that there was a trade of Echinorhinus Brucus, also known as the bramble shark. The shark was being fished about 40 nautical miles south of Ko Racha Noi in Phuket province.
Apichai Eakwanakul, acting director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), said fishing more than 40 nautical miles from the coast is legal, but it is of concern and the department would like to ask the public not to consume the bramble shark meat as it may contain some poisoning chemicals such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which can lead to cancer and other diseases related to heart and blood vessels and neuropathy disease.
The Facebook page that sells bramble shark meat.
He added that the existence of the shark indicates the abundance of marine life. The department is now expediting its study on the shark to propose it as a protected animal under the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2562. The ministry will also take measures to protect the area.
Apichai also said the ministry has received reports of parrot fish being sold at Ngernvichit Market, Khlong Tonne Sai, Khlong San, Bangkok, via the department’s official Facebook account. The ministry sent staff to investigate and found 5 shops selling parrot fish. The staff went to the shop owners and informed them that they are not allowed to sell or eat the parrot fish.
a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Myanmar’s military has imported at least $1 billion worth of weapons and related material from Russia, China and other countries since its February 2021 coup, some of which it has used to carry out atrocities against civilians, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday.
The weapons continue to flow to the military despite overwhelming evidence of its responsibility for the atrocities, including some that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Tom Andrews, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in Myanmar.
As an example of what he called the junta’s brutality, Andrews pointed to its April 11 airstrike using a Russian Yak-130 fighter jet on a ceremony attended by some 300 opponents of army rule, which was quickly followed by an attack by Russian Mi-35 helicopters on those who came to help. He said at least 160 people were killed, including many children.
FILE – Myanmar military officers leave the venue during a parade to commemorate Myanmar’s 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
In addition, the machine guns and bombs used in the attacks included parts and materials from companies located in Singapore, China and Thailand, he said.
Myanmar is mired in strife because of a political crisis unleashed when the military took power. Its takeover prompted widespread peaceful protests that security forces suppressed with deadly force, triggering armed resistance throughout the country that the army has been unable to quell. Andrews said at least 22,000 political prisoners have been detained since the coup, at least 3.500 civilians have been killed and 1.5 million people have been forcibly displaced.
The report documents over 12,500 purchases that were shipped directly to the Myanmar military or known Myanmar arms dealers working for the military from Feb. 1, 2021, when the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, until December 2022, Andrews said at a news conference.
a parade to commemorate Myanmar’s 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
He said the volume and diversity of equipment the military received was “staggering,” ranging from fighter jets and attack helicopters and drones to advanced missile systems, tank upgrades, sophisticated communications equipment, radar complexes and components for naval ships.
Andrews, a former Democratic congressman from Maine , said he had received “highly credible and detailed information from confidential sources” identifying the major networks and companies involved in the arms trade with Myanmar.
The report to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council identifies $406 million in weapons and material that went to the Myanmar military from Russia, $267 million from China, $254 million from Singapore, $51 million from India and $28 million from Thailand.
Since the coup, the report said, 28 Russian private and state-owned companies have transferred fighter jets and their spare parts, advanced missile systems, reconnaissance and attack drones, attack helicopters and other systems to the junta.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, left, head of the military council, inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar’s 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
The report identified 41 private and state-owned companies registered in China and Hong Kong that supplied the Myanmar military with an extensive array of arms, equipment and raw materials between October 2021 and December 2022, including advanced trainer jets, light attack aircraft, tank upgrades and repairs for Chinese fighter jets, which make up the Myanmar Air Force fleet, the report said.
They also supplied aluminum, copper, steel, rubber and lubricants for use in Myanmar’s domestic weapons manufacturing, it said.
Unlike with Russia and China, and to a lesser extent India, Andrews said he received no information indicating that the governments of Singapore or Thailand approved or transferred arms to the Myanmar military.
He said companies in Singapore are of critical importance to the junta, having supplied spare parts, raw materials and manufacturing equipment, especially for Myanmar’s KaPaSa weapons factories. Thai companies have done the same, the report said.
Twelve Thai companies were established after the coup, many by sanctioned arms networks already operating in Singapore, which suggests arms dealers may be looking at Thailand as an alternative route to avoid scrutiny, the report said.
Andrews said Singapore has a policy prohibiting the transfer of arms to Myanmar, and he reported his detailed findings to the government, which he said expressed appreciation for the information and indicated it was reviewing the effectiveness of its export controls.
If the Singapore government stopped all arms shipments to the Myanmar military, he said, the impact on the ability of the junta to manufacture arms “would be significant.”
Andrews said China and Russia both criticized the report, saying it went beyond his human rights mandate, and accused him of “vilifying legitimate arms trade.” He countered that “identifying the sources of gross human rights violations and atrocities, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, is within my mandate and in my moral obligation.”
Andrews said India responded to the report’s findings that 22 state-owned and private firms shipped a coastal surveillance system, a remote-controlled weapons system, components from an ammunition and missile manufacturer, and 122 mm howitzer barrels by saying these involved contracts with the previous civilian government.
A U.N. General Assembly resolution adopted on June 18, 2021, calls upon all member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar, but unlike a Security Council resolution it is not legally binding. The United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada and Switzerland have imposed sanctions on arms dealers providing support to the military.
Andrews said the sanctions weren’t coordinated and have been largely ineffective. He called for countries to impose coordinated sanctions that target the networks that procure weapons and also the junta’s finances.
