Thai police probed over people smuggling
Many of the accused are suspected of aiding trafficking networks on the Thai-Myanmar border
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Myanmar migrant workers prepare a fishing boat in the Thai coastal province of Samut Sakhon. Thailand’s labor market remains home to widespread human trafficking and blatant exploitation, rights groups say. (Photo: AFP)
Thirty-three Thai policeman and state officials are being investigated for engaging in people smuggling along the Thai-Myanmar border or doing nothing to stop the practice, local authorities say.
Of the accused, over 20 are police officers who stand accused of aiding the cross-border smuggling of migrant workers on behalf of businesses that employ migrant laborers illegally.
Inspector-General of Police Abubakar Adamu. PHOTO: BAYO OMOBORIOWO
During the 2015 face-off between members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and the Nigerian Army, which resulted in a blood bath that snuffed the life out of several people in what was tagged Zaria Massacre by the media, the distinction between the duties of the Nigerian Police and that of their military counterparts came to question. It was a moot issue whether the police should have been called in to quell a civil insurrection in a way that disproportionate force inherent in an impasse between soldiers and civilians would be averted.
The codenaming of operations, issuing various statements and deploying soldiers in various civil disturbances have made people wonder what the actual duties of the police are in a constitutional democracy. It was clear that while the police lacked anti-riot gears to control the #EndSars rioters when ironically, they were the primary targets in the uprising, the military paraphernalia
Exclusive: Inside the migrant-smuggling cartel in West Bengal
Exclusive: Inside the migrant-smuggling cartel in West Bengal
An India Today TV investigation has found human smugglers doubling as money changers in poll-bound West Bengal, bringing illegal migrants via relatively weak defences along the international border.
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UPDATED: January 19, 2021 23:49 IST
India Today TV investigation has found that human smugglers are running thier business on India-Bangladesh border despite India s multi-pronged approach involving hi-tech surveillance, new observation posts, intense patrolling, fencing, and floodlighting | Representative photo from Getty Images
With reported cases of infiltration along the Bangladesh border down because of stringent measures, people smugglers on both sides seem to be working in tandem to sneak illegal migrants in through less secured routes, an India Today TV investigation has found.
Inmates numbers keep prisons top brass awake
Monday January 18 2021
By EDWIN MUTAI
Summary
The population of inmates continues to surpass the prisons’ holding capacity despite attempts to decongest the facilities through alternative dispute resolution.
The official capacity of prisons in Kenya is 26,687 but data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that daily average population of prisoners was 53,348 as at December 2019.
The official statistics indicate that of the daily prison population, 29,796 were convicted inmates while 23,552 were remandees.
The population of inmates continues to surpass the prisons’ holding capacity despite attempts to decongest the facilities through alternative dispute resolution.
Senior Additional Solicitor General Sarath Jayamanne, PC, retires from service on January 16 after 32 years as a prosecutor with the Attorney General’s Department.
As a counsel, he figured in the prosecution of many landmark cases including the Hokandara murder, Katuneriya double murder, Tony Martin case, Kobeigane beauty queen case, Murder of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya and Mirusivil massacre.
Jayamanne also served as the Director-General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) at one time.
He is a lecturer in Evidence and Criminal Procedure at the Sri Lanka Law College, Faculty of Law University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka. The many top positions he has held in the public service reflects his versatility as a legal luminary.