A bank manager has been charged after 12 Lao workers — some as young as 14 — were found enslaved and kept in cages on a farm outside Bangkok.
The workers, aged between 14 and 25 years old, were found sleeping in small spaces framed by metal bars that resembled “animal cages”, according to a team of police and soldiers who raided the pig and chicken farm in Nakhon Pathom's Muang district.
The farm is owned by Krung Thai Bank manager Chaidet Sonut, who was arrested yesterday.
Chanon Saenkaeo, 25, who along with a friend escaped and sought police help, said the cages had no toilets and workers had to “defecate in plastic bags”. They would wait for their boss to open the doors the following morning to discard the bags, he said.
Mr Chanon alleged the labourers were forced to work all day and were beaten.
Some suffered injuries to their heads but were not allowed to see doctors, Mr Chanon said.
“I feel as if I was reborn after death,” Mr Chanon said of surviving the ordeal.
Another Lao farmhand, whose name was not released, said he contacted a broker and paid 5,000 baht to find a job.
He was then taken by truck to Nakhon Pathom from the Chong Mek border checkpoint in Ubon Ratchathani’s Sirinthon district, which borders southern Laos.
At the farm, he met Mr Chaidet who allegedly promised to pay a monthly wage of 7,000 baht.
But after working there for three months, “I’ve not received even a single baht,” he said.
The 55-year-old Mr Chaidet is a manager of a Krung Thai Bank branch in Nakhon Pathom. He also runs Yupha Farm on a 20-rai plot in the province.
Phruet Chamrunsat, Kamphaeng Saen district’s deputy of police, said officers were questioning Mr Chaidet last night.
The officers initially charged him with detaining, assaulting and giving shelter to immigrant workers without permission.
Investigators need more time to determine whether Mr Chaidet’s acts constitute human trafficking and whether a larger network was involved.
Pol Lt Col Phruet described the conditions the Lao workers were caged in as shocking.
He added he never expected to see such conditions of “slavery” in Thailand.
The 12 Lao workers are being detained by police, who suspect they might have entered Thailand to work illegally.