Thailand : No detainees to be released

Top news in <The Nation> :  No detainees to be released 

The Nation July 17, 2012 1:00 am

The detainees will not be allowed any visits from relatives.

Meanwhile, Thai members of a joint border committee are in the process of getting the detainees’ belongings, but the process of escorting them back to Thailand will not be possible until all legal and court process in relation to them is completed, Colonel Phornsak Phoolsawas said.

He added that no efforts are being made to secure their release at the jointpanel level even though Deputy Prime Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapha, upon completion of his visit to Myanmar earlier, had said that all 92 detainees would be released soon.

The colonel said initially they had heard that women and children would be released soon, but that tipoff no longer applies.

The 92 Thais being detained in Myanmar over allegedly encroaching on land will be held for a few more days to be questioned by military officials, a local Army commander said yesterday.

“But I have learned that they are all fine and in good health,” he said.

No figures have been released about how many of the 92 detainees are women and children.

There have been no figures of women and children among the 92 Thai detainees.

Yuthasak had said earlier that Myanmar would free some Thai women and children who were detained over an alleged land encroachment incident earlier this month.

Thai officials, accompanied by an interpreter, will travel to Koh Song to visit the detainees and assist with in regard to their basic living conditions.

Yutthasak said it is expected that a total of about 10 women and children would be released.

The Myanmar investigation is under way and legal action will be taken against those with weapons or illegal drugs in their possession. Anyone free of wrongdoing will be repatriated, he said.

Myanmar troops arrested the Thais who allegedly cut down trees and cleared the area to plant rubber trees inside Myanmar territory at Koh Song, opposite Ranong’s Kra Buri district on July 4.

Gen Yuthasak said earlier some 200 Thai nationals were lured by brokers to build homes and plant rubber trees in Myanmar.

He said that Thailand will discuss with Myanmar the possibility of allowing Thais to rent the areas for cultivation.

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