A Burmese child trafficking gang was arrested in Mae Sot, district police said on Thursday.

Based on a tip-off, police rounded up Be Be, aged 23, from Mae La refugee camp, who was about to sell her four-day old baby for 5,000 baht to three women – Suda, aged 35, Fatamabi, 49 and Jamjara, 19, said Police Captain Patompong Kawparapirom. All three women are from Burma and hold Thai
refugee “pink cards”. Be Be has a displaced person’s card.

“This gang was going to sell the baby to their contact in Ratchburi for 20,000 baht and from there to Malaysia,” said Pol Capt Patompong. According to officials at the refugee camp, 80 to 120 babies are born every month at Mae La.

Mae Sot police are currently investigating the extent of child
trafficking, according to Pol Col Somjit Thongtheng, the district police chief. “This is the first time that we have arrested child traffickers. We do not know how many children from the refugee camp have been trafficked,” he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

“This sort of crime carries a sentence of up to seven years in jail,” said Pol Capt Patompong Kawparapirom.