PHUKET: A terrified 13-year-old Cambodian
girl has been handed over to the Foundation for Children and Family
after she was caught peddling flowers to tourists on Rat U Thit 200 Phi
Rd, Patong, on Monday night (December 11).
Wednesday 12 December 2012,
The Phuket News
The Phuket News
The
girl, who cannot for legal reasons be named, pleaded not to be sent
back to her “parents” for fear they would beat her. The “parents”, an
official told The Phuket News, are not her real parents but a Vietnamese couple.
The girl told officials that when she
had been caught in the past and returned to her “parents” they were
fined by the officials and she received a caning, as many as 30 strokes
with a stick. She said she would like to be returned home to Cambodia.
Another official (none of the officials
wanted to be named) explained afterwards, “Phuket has a lot of this kind
of [illegal street] business, such as misuse of endangered species and
other wild animals, and children being sent out to work selling things.
“We make constant patrols but it
is difficult because they have lookouts who warn them we are coming. So
that, we have to rely on other people tipping us off.”
Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukabal has
ordered a strict policy of arrests, with wild animals and cameras being
confiscated and the offenders fined B2,000.
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