The military deployed troops on Friday to support government efforts to crack down on forced labour and human trafficking in the fishing industry nationwide.
National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesman Col Winthai Suwaree said the NCPO Maintaining Force is working with police and local bodies to conduct nationwide inspections of factories suspected of violating the labour protection law.
The move comes after the government received information that some operators in the fishing industry continue to defy the law.
On Nov 9, the Department of Special Investigation, along with police, soldiers and local authorities raided a shrimp-peeling shed in Samut Sakhon's Muang district after a Myanmar worker who managed to escape alerted them of terrible working conditions.
An Associated Press report, published on Monday, exposed the slave-like conditions of Myanmar workers at a medium-sized 80-person shrimp peeling mill called the Gig Peeling Factory in the province.
A worker, Tin Nyo Win, 22, had worked at the factory for five months — starting in July this year — alongside his pregnant wife, Mi San. According to the report, the couple were lured from their home in Myanmar to work at a Gig Peeling factory shed without visas or work permits, and forced to peel nearly 80kg of shrimp for just 144 baht per day.
Workers, including children, were assaulted, cursed at and forced to work even when ill. The couple eventually attempted to escape. Tin Nyo Win succeeded but his wife was caught.
On Nov 9, Tin Nyo Win returned to Gig with law enforcement officers to find his wife. She was located at another seafood factory nearby.
A team of police on Thursday inspected the Gig Peeling factory only to find it had already been closed. The team also visited another shrimp peeling factory called Aor-Aroonchoke, which has about 30 workers.
The shrimp peeled by forced labourers enters the supply chains of major seafood exporters, reaching international markets.
After the AP report, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appointed deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul to lead operations to clamp down on slave labour in the fishing industry.
Col Winthai said the Maintaining Force will intensify inspections. The NCPO feels the need to take tough action so these operators do not ruin the reputation of the industry as a whole, he said.
Speaking at a seminar to mark International Migrants Day on Friday, Siwawong Sukthawee, coordinator at the Migrant Working Group, said the 1979 Immigration Act is out of date.
The law should be amended to draw clear lines between illegal immigrants and refugees while the government must come up with measures to allow victims of human trafficking access to the judicial process, he said.
Kaewkwan Tangtipongkul, an economist at Thammasat University, said that efforts have been made to register migrant workers over the past 20 years, though many have chosen to work illegally because they feel this is easier than applying for registration officially.