(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The United Nations said yesterday it had urged Thai authorities against deporting more than 200 Muslim boatpeople from Myanmar being held in southern Thailand after they were intercepted en route to Malaysia.
Thai police arrested 259 people on an island off the southern province of Ranong on Saturday, days after activists reported a surge in the number of stateless Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar's restive Rakhine state.
"We're seeking details from the authorities and appealing for them not to deport the group to a place where their lives or freedom could be threatened," said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok.
She added that if the detainees were found to have fled persecution the UNHCR asked they be granted "temporary stay, assistance and protection in Thailand until longer-term solutions are found".
Thousands of Rohingya - a Muslim minority group not recognised as citizens in Buddhist-majority Myanmar - have fled deadly communal unrest in Rakhine since 2012. Most have headed for mainly Muslim Malaysia.
Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya - described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities - as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.
Yesterday, Ranong deputy provincial police commander Kritsak Songmulnak said that officials were determining whether the detainees had entered Myanmar illegally or were victims of trafficking. "259 Myanmar Muslims were arrested on Saturday, of these 13 are children... They said they wanted to go to Malaysia to work to earn money," he said.
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