BANGKOK, March 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The 13 Myanmar laborers whose
bodies found in the eastern Thai border province of Prachinburi
earlier this week have been proved to be victims of a human
smuggling operation, the state-owned radio here reported Friday.
   A Thai couple arrested by local police here later Thursday
confessed to having smuggled the 13 laborers from Myanmar. However,
when the pair later found all the laborers had died from
suffocation during the long journey, they dumped the bodies into a
pond in Prachinburi province bordering Cambodia, 200 kilometers
east of here.
   Police also found the couple had smuggled several truck-loads
of other illegal immigrants into the country before.
   Commenting the case, National Police Chief Sant Suratanon
admitted that human trafficking of illegal laborers is not a new
problem of Thailand, and despite many arrests, the problem has not
been reduced to a satisfactory level.
   Police estimated that around one million people are probably
being smuggled into the country each year, mostly from poorer
neighboring countries, including Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
   Last month, 14 illegal Myanmar laborers were found dead in the
Moei river, 500 kilometers north of here, apparently victims of a
similar human trafficking operation.
   Premsak Piayura, chairman of the labor committee of the Thai
parliament said  influential figures of the police could be behind
human trafficking rings, from which they make huge profits.
   He called on the government to check which employers placed
orders for illegal laborers from smugglers.  Enditem