Thailand busts more seafood labor traffickers

Police in Thailand have arrested six people on charges of human trafficking and rescued several dozen captive laborers.

According to an article in the Irrawaddy, police raided a shrimp peeling facility in Chiang Mai and arrested Maung Htone, who police said was in charge of a trafficking ring to enslave migrant workers at the facility. Police arrested five other accomplices and are searching for others.

Human rights advocates who assisted the police told the news organization that they helped free 64 captive laborers, many from Myanmar. Police and aid workers said the workers had been keep confined at the facility, and had no work documents.

Thailand has faced scrutiny in the past, particularly by the U.S. State Department, for not doing enough to control the problem of forced labor. Multiple media reports have linked slave labor in the Thai fishing industry to products exported to major companies based in the United States, the EU and elsewhere.

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