Three Burmese Migrants Gunned Down In Southern Thailand

By Naw Noreen

Three Burmese migrant workers in southern Thailand’s Phang-nga and Songkhla provinces were shot and killed by unknown gunmen in two separate incidents on 25 July.

Htoo Naing, a 27-year-old Burmese migrant worker at a rubber plantation Phang-nga’s town of Thai Mueang, was found dead at 10pm in the evening with six gunshot wounds, according to Foundation for Education and Development’s executive director Htoo Chit.

Htoo Naing came from Tenasserim division’s Mergui Archipelago in southern Burma.

In a similar incident, Sabei Phyu and Aung Aung, two Burmese migrants working at a shrimp factory owned by Charoen Pokphand Foods Company Limited in Songkhla province across the border from Malaysia, were also shot and killed earlier in the day by two masked gunmen.

The victims’ colleague told DVB that the two were having a chat in front of their living quarters after getting back from working a night shift.

“They were talking at the gates [of the living quarters] when they were shot by the assailants who came on a motorbike. It happened around 4am in the morning,” said the migrant who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He said another employee, Khin Maung Htun, came out of the quarters when he heard the gunfire and was also shot. He was hospitalised after being wounded in the leg and back.

“He had a operation at the hospital and apparently is in good condition,” said his colleague.

A funeral for Sabei Phyu was held later in the day in accordance with Islamic rites, while Aung Aung’s body was kept at a monastery near the hospital, said his wife Aye Moe.

“We are devastated,” said Aye Moe. “This happened to those who didn’t do anything wrong.”

Htoo Chit said his organisation will work closely with the Burmese embassy in Thailand as well as Thai police as investigations proceed.