ALOR STAR: THE transit camps uncovered by Malaysian authorities in the Wang Kelian area in Perlis are believed to have been used to hold human trafficking victims who had been “bought” by a main agent called “Yassin.”
This was revealed by Kedah Rohingya Society in Malaysia (RSM) deputy chairman, Yusof Ali, to Bernama yesterday, adding that Yassin, a Rohingya, was known to be one of the main agents of the human trafficking syndicate.
Although he was from Myanmar, Yassin, who is in his 30s, lived in southern Thailand, and the operations of the human trafficking syndicate he headed reached up to Malaysia.
“Based on the information received, he is the agent responsible for buying Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from a syndicate
in southern Thailand at a fixed price and keeping them temporarily in transit camps in Wang Kelian before selling them to other parties.
“Yassin is a top agent of the human trafficking syndicate and his name is known to Rohingyas who are in Malaysia and were his victims,” said Yusof, who has been living in Malaysia for 20 years.
Yusof, who is from Maungdaw, a town close to the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, also disclosed that the transit camps in Wang Kelian had been operating for two to three years.
His disclosure was supported by his friend, Mohammad Hussain Abu Hassan, who is an active member of Kedah RSM, which provides assistance to Rohingyas who are new arrivals from Myanmar.
Yusof said what happened in the human trafficking activities was that top agents, like Yassin, would buy the Rohingyas or Bangladeshis who had just arrived in southern Thailand.
“Because he lives and operates in southern Thailand, Yassin has close ties with other syndicate leaders who are either Thai citizens or Myanmar nationals from the Rakhine community.
Yusof said Yassin would then hold the people he had just bought in a specific location, such as a transit camp in the jungle of Wang Kelian, before “distributing” them to smaller agents for a fixed fee which would earn him multifold profits.
“The smaller agents or their people would transport these new arrivals throughout Malaysia.”
He said Wang Kelian’s location, surrounded by thick jungle and limestone hills close to the Thai border, made it a favourite route of the human trafficking syndicates.
Wang Kelian’s border post is located opposite that of Wan Prakob, Satun, and for the past few years, visitors could walk freely between the Malaysia-Thai border on weekends through the border posts without a passport.
However, this freedom of movement has now been stopped for security reasons.
Asked about the latest news on Yassin, Yusof said he was believed to have escaped by slipping back into Myanmar after his activities in southern Thailand were exposed by the authorities there.
“I have been informed by my sources that Yassin escaped to Myanmar, not long after the Thai authorities exposed his involvement in the syndicate.”
He said Yassin now probably felt safer in Myanmar, his country of origin, than in Thailand, where he was being hunted. Bernama