Dozens Found Guilty in Thailand in Human-Trafficking Case<br />The defendants included a high-ranking officer, Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpan,<br />and Pajjuban Aungkachotephan, a businessman and former politician, as well as police officers and smugglers from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand.<br />By RYN JIRENUWAT and RUSSELL GOLDMANJULY 19, 2017<br />BANGKOK — A court in Thailand convicted dozens on Wednesday of organizing a human-trafficking ring that enslaved hundreds of people.<br />Investigators said the victims were from Bangladesh or Myanmar — many of them Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority —<br />and had paid smugglers to help them find work in Thailand.<br />Judges at the Criminal Court in Bangkok held a lengthy session on Wednesday to announce the verdicts,<br />and many relatives of the defendants were crying as the verdicts were read.<br />Many victims were found buried in a mass grave near a secret jungle camp in which they had been imprisoned, tortured and held for ransom.
