Mafia-like extortion gangs have attacked and hospitalized at least 20 Burmese immigrant workers living in an area known as “Little Burma”, 30 kilometres southwest of Bangkok, social workers say.

The attacks, mostly against people employed in the fishing industry, have occurred in recent weeks in Mahachai, in Samut Sakhon Province, home to up to 100,000 Burmese migrants.

“Arms robberies and physical assaults by local gangsters is taking place on a daily basis,” said Myint Wai of Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma.

Samut Sakhon hospital confirmed that one Burmese migrant had serious injuries from a knife attack and another had been brought in unconscious after a severe beating.

Pranom Somwong of the Migrant Assistance Program said the Burmese immigrant community in Mahachai is generally closed to outsiders and Thai and Burmese gangsters have organized extortion rackets. She said recent incidents showed a lack of protection for migrant workers in Thailand.

Thailand has not signed the 1990 UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers nor the International Labour Organization’s conventions guaranteeing protection.

“It’s a shame that Thailand lets this situation happen to such a vulnerable group,” said Jai Ungpakorn, a labor rights activist and professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.