By Xinhua,
Bangkok : The Thai Navy arrested some 78 Rohingya boat people off the coast of Thailand’s southern province of Ranong Tuesday.
These people were found on a boat southwest from Surin Island of Phang Nga province Tuesday morning while it was heading towards Ranong, the website by The Nation newspaper reported.
The Thai Navy arrested them and handed them over to a police station in Ranong’s Muang district, the website said.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Supreme Commander Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara disclosed in Bangkok Tuesday after returning from Myanmar that Myanmar would cooperate with Thailand in solving the Rohingya migrant problem, the website by the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported Tuesday.
Gen. Songkitti said he met with Myanmar’s Vice Chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and Army Chief Deputy Senior General Muang Aye and discussed with him about the Rohingya problem.
He said that Gen. Muang Mye had accepted Thailand’s request to help address the Rohingya issue even though the Rohingya ethnic group was not on the official list of 120 ethnic minorities in Myanmar, the website said.
Initially, Myanmar would help prevent the Rohingya people from approaching the Thai territory, the TNA’s website quoted Gen. Songkitti as saying.
However, Gen Songkitti did not give further detail about measures that Myanmar would take to solve the problem in the long term, the TNA’s website reported.
The Royal Thai Navy has increasingly been under criticism after many foreign media reported claims saying that the Thai armed forces had mistreated the Rohingyas from Myanmar and Bangladesh who sought work or asylum in Thailand by pushing them out to sea and setting them adrift.
Thai military officials reiterated that the Thai Navy had not committed any harsh or inhumane acts against Rohingyas and had treated them with international standards, but could not absorb the burden of the high cost of letting them take refuge in the country.