V. Extortion of Migrants by Local Authorities

The police will charge us whatever they can get or think they can get from us to be released. It’s all about taking the money, they know that they can just take from us and no one dares to complain—the migrants will just continue to keep quiet as they steal everything from us. [137]

—Kyaw Lwin, migrant worker from Burma living in Surat Thani, January 29, 2009, Bangkok

Systems of Extortion by Police and Local Officials

Accompanying the threats of violence and abuse, sexual harassment of women, and extended detention and deportation, migrants often face ruinous extortion of money and valuables, particularly by police. It is not uncommon for a migrant to lose the equivalent of one to several months’ pay in one extortion incident.

Extortion of money and valuables from migrants by police is a widespread problem. Virtually all migrants held in police custody that Human Rights Watch interviewed attested that police demanded money from them or their relatives in exchange for their release. Migrants reported paying bribes ranging from 200 to 8000 baht or more, depending on the area, the circumstances of the arrest, and the attitudes of the police officers involved. For detained migrants who do not possess enough money to be released, frequently the arresting officers asked whether they had relatives or friends willing to pay to secure their release.

Migrants indicate that an informal hierarchy of payments exists. Release at the point of arrest requires less money, but if the police transfer the migrant in custody to the police station, then the amount of the bribe required for release rises. Kyaw Lwin, a long-time Burmese migrant worker in Surat Thani, estimated that the cost of releasing a migrant ranges between 4000 to 5000 baht at the roadside, but if the migrant is taken to the police station, the bribe expected for the person’s release rises to 8000 baht. He stated that it is common in Surat Thani that arresting officers allow detained migrants to use officers’ cell phones to call friends or relatives to raise money for release.[138]

Undocumented migrant workers are the primary targets of these abuses. But documented migrant workers also report being required to pay either because their employer is holding the worker’s original registration document or their official migrant worker ID card has not yet arrived from the Ministry of Interior.

A Thai police officer searches a Burmese migrant at a police checkpoint in Mae Sot. Migrants allege that many Thai police are involved in extortion of Burmese migrants living and working in Thailand. © 2006 Nic Dunlop/Panos Pictures

Workers with migrant worker ID cards said police give different justifications for refusing their documents and demanding money. Migrants said that frequently police allege that the documents are fake or that the migrant is outside the permitted travel area. Sometimes, police refuse to accept a photocopy of a document provided to the worker by the employer who is retaining the original document. In some instances, no reason is offered by the police—they simply force migrant workers to turn out their pockets, and seize whatever they wish. Virtually every migrant interviewed by Human Rights Watch, both documented and undocumented, reported that police regularly steal money, gold chains and jewelry, mobile phones, and other valuables from them in the course of routine stops and checks.

In Mae Sot district, Tak province, migrant workers with ID cards traveling with other migrants who are undocumented face arrest simply because they are found in proximity with undocumented migrants.[139] The Mae Sot police’s rationale is that the documented migrants are “traffickers” promoting illegal migration in violation of article 64 of the Immigration Act of 2522.[140] According to the YCOWA, bribes demanded by Mae Sot police to release a migrant so charged are significantly higher than normal levels.[141]

Even migrants who legally enter Thailand are susceptible to extortion by police in Mae Sot. On February 9, 2009, nine migrant workers entered Thailand with legally issued Burmese government border passes and were admitted by Thai Immigration at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge. The workers had previously worked for a small apparel factory in Mae Sot. They had returned to Burma temporarily, and were back in Thailand to go to the YCOWA office to file a complaint against their employer for non-payment of wages. On the way, two police on a motorcycle stopped the migrants near the Mae Sot central fresh food market and took them to a nearby police holding cell. The police accused one of the women of being a “trafficker,” arranging transport of migrants to Bangkok. Finally, the police forced the group to pay a total of 8000 baht in exchange for their freedom. Following their release, the police continued to follow the group when they went to YCOWA, and asked YCOWA staff about the group, what they were doing, and where they were staying in Mae Sot.[142]

Roadside Arrest and Extortion

Saw Htoo, the migrant worker from Burma profiled above who collaborated with police, described how police seize migrants’ motorcycles in the 48 Kilometer area in Tak province, saying police claim the migrant is driving without a license or is not allowed to drive there. Police take the motorcycle to the police station and it must be ransomed back at a heavy price. Saw Htoo noted that payments could be as much as 7000 baht to secure the return of a motorcycle valued at 10,000 baht, or 50 percent of the value of a more expensive motorcycle. He said, “Sometimes one police seizes the motorcycle and the owner pays to get it back, and then soon after, another police will come and confiscate the motorcycle again. It can be very expensive, so many bribes to pay.” [143]

Khai Moe, Nang Mar, and Thi Myo, three Burmese women working at the Thai Union Frozen Products factory in Mahachai district, Samut Sakhon, were registered migrant workers whose original migrant registration documents were held by their employer. In late November 2008, they were on their way to the Talad Goong fresh market when they say they were stopped by two policemen, one in uniform, sitting in a parked car. The policemen ordered them into the back seat of the car, telling them the details of their migrant worker IDs must be checked at the police station. The women say they saw the policemen’s guns on the dashboard so they did not dare run away. When the car went past a police station, and then did not stop at the police post at Khom Ku, the women became very frightened. Khai Moe, who speaks some Thai, asked “Where are you going? We passed the police station.” The police did not answer.

The policemen took them to a very isolated area near Ban Pla and conducted an invasive body search. The police found and stole 5300 baht from Nang Mar and Thi Myo, then left them in front of an abandoned factory. The women said they were too scared to file a complaint with the Thai authorities themselves.[144]

Ma Myo, a migrant worker from Burma, said she was stopped, harassed, and extorted by police several times over the course of a year in Mae Sot despite having a migrant worker ID. Since her employer held the original ID card and only provided a photocopy for her use, police claimed each time that her ID was fake, she said. The first time, in February 2007, the police seized 500 baht from her wallet. Ma Myo said:

Normally, I don’t yell, I try to speak gently and wai [traditional Thai cultural greeting] when talking with the Thais, but I was so angry.... But there was nothing I could do, and if I said anything more it could just get worse for me.... I felt very disappointed and angry because I have paid a lot of money for the migrant ID but the police still take money from me.

In April 2008, she said she was stopped on her bicycle and detained at a police checkpoint for more than three hours. The police refused to let her call her employer to verify her legal registration status, and when she protested, she was verbally threatened by the Burmese police interpreter.[145]

Police extortion occurs even during emergency situations, when migrants are seeking medical assistance for themselves or their families. Police at a roadblock near the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) 999 gate prevented Mon Mon Shwe from Burma from taking her son, who was sick with a high fever, to the Mae Tao Clinic[146] on August 22, 2008. When she produced her Mae Tao clinic card, she said, the policeman threw it away, accused her of lying about her son’s illness, and demanded a bribe to release her and her son. The policeman compelled Mon Mon Shwe to hand over all the money she had (200 baht) and prevented her from continuing her journey. She had to walk home, carrying her son on her back, she said.[147]

Migrants are vulnerable to having their money and valuables stolen by a diverse array of other armed Thai authorities, but often have difficulty distinguishing the perpetrators. For example, in March 2008, two armed men in camouflage uniforms stopped Burmese migrant worker Naing Ko and a friend near the Mae Sot central market, and demanded to see their IDs. When Naing Ko pulled out his wallet to show his ID card, he said, the men grabbed his wallet and stole 300 baht, claimed the card was fake and searched the two migrants, seizing his mobile phone. The only identification Naing Ko can assign to the two men is “militia.”[148]

At Police Stations

Migrants caught up in police raids or more formal police actions and sent to police posts or full district police stations face even greater pressure to pay for their release. These arrests play out differently, depending on the location, circumstances of the arrest, and disposition of the police.

Kyaw Oo, from Arakan state in Burma, said police arrested him three different times in a two-month period in Mahachai district, Samut Sakhon province. At the time, Kyaw Oo was recovering from a grievous work accident that severed four fingers on his right hand. On his first arrest, police handcuffed him, put him in a police car, and drove him around while negotiating the amount he had to pay for his release, he said. During his second arrest, in September 2008, the two officers handcuffed his still bandaged hand behind his back and forced him to ride pillion on a motorcycle to a local police outpost, causing him excruciating pain. He said, “When I was arrested, I felt awful, I was hurting, I was fearful, and whatever money and resources I had I would have to give to the police to get out.” A month later, police officers arrested him at his room after considering and rejecting his offered bribe of 2000 baht. At the police station he said he used the last of his injury compensation payment from his employer to pay 3500 baht for his release.[149]

The ability of police to extract money from migrants apparently has few limits. Myo Lwin, an active member of a Burmese migrant worker welfare group, assisted Ko Swe, an undocumented migrant worker from Burma arrested by two police on August 26, 2008, in downtown Surat Thani. According to Myo Lwin, when police stopped Ko Swe, they searched him and confiscated 6000 baht and his mobile phone, then demanded that he contact his brother to bring 6500 baht to the police station to secure his release. But after his brother came and made the payment, the police presented an additional condition: a replacement detainee must be located for Ko Swe or he could not go free. Ko Swe’s brother finally found another policeman and paid him an additional 8500 baht to get Ko Swe out of jail—bringing the family’s total losses for the day to 21,000 baht.[150] Myo Lwin said that “If we don’t have a work permit, I admit that the police have the right to arrest us—but they should not take our hand phones, or our motorbikes, or money. They should operate under the law.”[151]

Local police in Ban Phe sub-district in the Muang district of Rayong province arrested Mom Channary, from Cambodia, her husband, and her two children as undocumented migrants in November 2008. She said, “I was so scared because I knew that I did not have the money in my pocket to give to the police.... I was worried that they would keep us in jail because I did not have the money to pay the fine.”[152] She told how in the police lock-up a policewoman told her to call someone who could pay for her release and handed over her mobile phone to make the phone call. The family had to borrow money to pay 2000 baht per person for their release, a debt which took the family two months to earn back. She said, “There was no sort of receipt from the police for this payment. I am not sure where they money ended up but I think it was in the hands of the police.”[153]

Police Protection Rackets and Payments

Throughout the country, migrant workers told Human Rights Watch that Thai police are directly involved in extorting money from employers of migrant workers on a monthly payment-per-head basis at the workplace, and demanding money to release migrant workers they have detained.

According to Ma Myo, a Burmese supervisor who has worked in several textile factories in Mae Sot district, Tak province:

I have seen the local police come many times to the factories where I have worked ... [O]ften the police will go to the office.... to ask whether the factories have hired any newcomers or not. If the factory pays the bribe money to the police in advance, then the police will not go visit those factories. But for the factories which have not paid the bribe money, they will check and inspect and then they will negotiate in the office ... and threaten to make arrests if a payment is not made.[154]

Usually local police demand a certain amount per month from the factory or establishment for each undocumented migrant worker. In exchange police agree not to raid the workplace and arrest the workers and to give warning to the enterprise if local police learn in advance that authorities from outside the area are coming to check the factory. However, these arrangements do not typically provide any guarantees, and if police from outside the area come without informing the local police, then the employers are on their own. Ma Myo described the arrangements in Mae Sot:

I have seen them come and arrest undocumented workers at the factory, and then negotiate the bribe with the manager.... [T]he factories in Mae Sot have to pay 300 baht a month to the police per undocumented worker. But for the really big factories, which have many workers, those factories only have to pay 100 baht per worker.[155]

Aik Neng said he was working at a knitting factory in Nakhon Pathom province when Om Noi district police raided the factory on August 25, 2008, seeking to arrest him and the other 300 or more undocumented Burmese migrant workers he estimated were employed there. Most workers ran so only three were arrested, he said. But following the raid, the manager told Aik Neng and the others that the police came because protection fees were not paid to them. The next day, the manager began deducting 500 baht per month from the pay of each undocumented migrant worker.[156]

Ten Bangkok-based police officers arrested Pla Pasai along with seven other Lao women without warning when they raided the Namthip karaoke bar where she worked in remote Khemmarat district, on the Thai-Lao border in Ubon Ratchathani province. She said that the owner of the karaoke bar has to pay money to the police to be allowed to continue operating and added that “if the Khemmarat police know that police from outside are coming, they will inform us in advance.” She had to appear before the court in the provincial capital and, after she paid a heavy fine, the police were supposed to have deported her—instead, they released her and the other women. The Khemmarat police picked up all the women in front of the court and then transported them back to the karaoke shop in police vehicles. At times when local Khemmarat police tipped off the karaoke owner that police from other areas were coming, Pla and her co-workers were sent into the nearby jungle area where they had to stay in tents for several days until the police left the area, she said.[157]

For smaller worksites, migrant worker supervisors manage the relationship between the undocumented workers and the local police. Zaw Zaw, a Burmese construction supervisor leading a crew of 15 migrant workers in Surat Thani, said he collects and delivers 500 baht per month to the police for each undocumented migrant worker on his site. He said that “whenever a new worker starts working, I have to take him and show [him] to the police. Then the police ask for money and tell him [the new migrant] not to go anywhere.” Zaw Zaw also serves as the point of contact for local police calls. He said “If Bangkok police and Immigration officers will come to arrest the illegal workers, the local police will inform me in advance. Then I will call the workers and prepare the hiding place.”[158]

Police also compel employers to pay for the release of their employees. When an undocumented migrant worker is arrested, migrant workers told Human Rights Watch, the police first commonly demand to know the name of the worker’s employer. Then the police call that employer to come and pay for the worker’s release. Employers holding the original registration documents of a migrant worker must go themselves or send a representative to the police station to seek the release of their worker. Since the payment for release of a worker can equal that worker’s monthly wages, employers have a financial incentive to keep tight controls over the movements of migrant employees.

Extortion by Police Impersonators

Migrant workers often have great difficulty differentiating between real police and local persons impersonating police in order to extort money from migrants. Police regulations do not require police, especially those assigned to investigation duties, to wear their uniforms at all times. While police have badges, those dressed in plain clothes do not display them and migrant workers told Human Rights Watch police are reluctant to show them. Many migrants are thus left guessing about the veracity of a person’s claims to be police officer, and use clues like the types of shoes and attire worn by the person, possession of weapons and walkie-talkies, and other visual and verbal indicators.

Migrants’ fear of police is so pervasive that Thai criminals have come to realize that impersonating police is lucrative and relatively risk-free. Sixteen-year-old Lao migrant worker Pin Mukdahan said she was accosted midday by a man on a motorcycle in June 2008 in downtown Chong Mek, close to the Thai-Lao border in Ubon Ratchathani. The man pulled out a machete and ordered her to get on his motorcycle. When she complied, he drove to a remote area at the beginning of a smugglers’ trail across the border. There he delivered her to another armed man in plainclothes who she believes was a policeman, but she is still not completely sure. The man demanded money and threatened to take her to the police station or deport her if she did not pay. She said “I was shaking with fear. He was sitting on the motorcycle and I was in a squat position ... and not brave enough to look him in the face.” She said she finally paid 500 baht and was allowed to leave. Since the second man might have been a policeman, she said she was afraid to file a complaint.[159]

Sai Htoon said he and his wife, who are ethnic Shan from Burma, were riding his motorcycle in April 2008 when two men claiming to be police from the police station near the Chiang Mai airport stopped them. Sai Htoon said he had a current work registration but his wife’s was in the extension period and she had not received the official document yet—meaning that she had no ID card on her person. The two Thais were not in uniform, but one displayed what Sai Htoon believes was an Immigration Department card. The men seized Sai Htoon’s motorcycle keys and mobile phone, and demanded payment of 8000 baht (6000 baht for the motorcycle, 2000 baht for driving without a license). When Sai Htoon protested that he did not have the money, the men pulled guns on the migrants and took their two gold necklaces as a deposit for the 8000 baht they insisted must be paid. They released Sai Htoon, his wife, and their motorcycle and gave them a phone number to call when they collected the money. But when Sai Htoon called an hour later, he said, the number was unavailable and when he drove back to the site where the incident took place, there was no one there.[160]

Two men accosted Aye Maung while he was riding his bicycle in the Saphan Ta Chin area of Samut Sakhon province during the first week of August 2008, blocking him with their motorcycle. Neither of the Thais wore a uniform but Aye Maung said he thought one of the men looked like a policeman. When they realized from his accent he was Burmese, one of the men demanded to see his migrant ID card. When he pulled out his wallet, the man grabbed it, looked for money, and then searched Aye Maung and stole his mobile phone. Aye Maung said “When I thought they were police, I thought there would be no trouble—but then when they grabbed me, I knew they were nak leng [thugs] and I was afraid because they must have weapons too.” After taking his phone, he said the men rode off on their motorcycle, which had no license plate.[161]

Extortion During Deportations at the Thai-Burma Border

Extortion of migrant workers by authorities also happens when migrants are being deported. According to immigration officers in Ranong, the government of Burma refuses to allow official deportations at the Ranong-Kawthaung checkpoint, so many Burmese migrants are sent to the Immigration Detention Center (IDC) in Bangkok and then to Mae Sot for deportation. Yet the twice weekly schedule of official deportations from Mae Sot to Myawaddy is insufficient to manage the numbers of deportees. Informal systems have since developed between Thai officials and a border militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which is allied with the Burmese Army, in which migrants are sent by Thai Immigration Department trucks to the Tamahar checkpoint, and deported across the Moei River to an area controlled by DKBA Battalion 999. Human Rights Watch spoke to half a dozen migrant workers who described being deported by boat across the Moei River and met by brokers and armed DKBA troops who then expected payments in exchange for their release.[162] In several instances, NGO activists working in Mae Sot were asked by friends or relatives of detained deportees to assist in arranging financial transfers to bank accounts in Mae Sot controlled by the above-mentioned brokers, in exchange for the release of the deportees.[163]

Migrant workers advocates in Mae Sot said migrant workers are processed for deportation and lists of deportees are prepared at the Mae Sot IDC. According to those NGOs, the brokers have advance information of the name of each migrant and from where they have been sent (e.g., Bangkok, Chiang Mai) to Mae Sot. Held under guard in the DKBA-controlled area, each deportee must then call friends or relatives to arrange payments for their release.[164] Activists told Human Rights Watch they suspect that information lists are provided by Thai officials, and that the proceeds of the ransoms collected are shared between the brokers, DKBA, and Thai officials.[165]

According to Burmese migrant Min Myo, local police in Mae Sot arrested him on December 12, 2008, and detained him at the Mae Sot police station. At 10 a.m. on December 14, officials first sent him to the Immigration Department holding center close to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge, and then, later that day, sent him by Immigration Department truck to the Ta Maha checkpoint. Immigration officers delivered the group directly to waiting boats, which crossed the river to the Burmese side where they were met by armed DKBA soldiers and brokers. Min Myo said those receiving them already knew which persons had been deported from Bangkok because they had a list, and brokers told him they paid 300 baht to Immigration Department officers for the name of each person who had been deported from Bangkok. Migrants from Bangkok are apparently targeted since they are presumed to be either carrying more money or are able to access financial resources to be released. But since the brokers knew Min Myo was arrested in Mae Sot, they assumed he did not have much money and did not force him to pay for his release, further supporting activists’ claims that the racket is organized between Thai immigration officials and brokers. This was Min Myo’s third deportation through the Ta Maha checkpoint. On the two previous times (in 2003 and 2005), he said, armed DKBA soldiers met him and the other deportees, segregated out those sent back from Bangkok, and sent them to be held by the brokers. Brokers ordered each migrant deported from Bangkok to pay 1500 baht for their release. DKBA soldiers and the brokers punched and kicked those migrants claiming to have no money. The first time he was held, Min Myo escaped after five days, while the second time, his wife in Mae Sot arranged payment and he was let go. Min Myo said:

I think the DKBA sends the brokers to buy the people from immigration. I think the DKBA is doing this like a business. The brokers have the connections with the DKBA, some are Burmans, and some are Mons. The brokers are not armed—but they threatened us that if you don’t pay us, we will hand you over to the DKBA.[166]

Police arrested Ma Swe Swe on January 21, 2009, near the sewing factory where she worked on the outskirts of Bangkok. Immigration officers sent her to Mae Sot and she was deported with 107 other migrants to the DKBA 999 gate on January 29. She recalled that a group of over 10 ethnic Mon and Karen brokers met them and each one took control of a group of deportees and transported them by motorcycle taxis to a holding area. The broker holding Ma Swe Swe told her she must pay a total of 1600 baht to be released from his custody. She was frightened by the potential consequences of not complying. She told Human Rights Watch: “If I don’t pay, I would end up in a Burmese [prison] cell. I feared that I might get sent back to Burmese immigration.” Ma Swe Swe’s sister paid for her release, and after the broker confirmed the bank transfer into his account in Mae Sot, she was sent back across the river to Thailand. Ma Swe Swe said:

I don’t know why I had to pay the money. I just know it is their [DKBA] area. If we don’t pay, I don’t know what would happen.... I was so afraid.... When the truck left the IDC [in Mae Sot] a car followed us the whole way to the gate. They were DKBA. The IDC, DKBA, and pway-za [traffickers] work together. Money makes everything.[167]

Thai officials sent Burmese worker Wai Lei to Mae Sot on October 20, 2008, after holding him in detention in Bangkok for almost two months on an illegal entry charge. The next day, officials sent him with 200 deportees to DKBA Gate 10, where armed DKBA soldiers demanded he pay 1300 baht for his release. Wai Lei told Human Rights Watch that brokers compelled each of the deportees to call relatives or friends to secure the ransom for their release.[168]