Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

THAILAND

Stranded Thai berry pickers on their way home

Some 200 Thai berry pickers who staked their life savings to travel to Sweden to pick berries, only to find themselves penniless and stranded, have had their return trips arranged for them through donations.

Published: 28 August 2009 10:23 CEST
Stranded Thai berry pickers on their way home

After the berry pickers’ fates had come to light, help arrived from a number of sources, news agency TT reports. Luleå Council has arranged for buses so that the berry pickers can travel to Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, from where flights will take them home to Thailand via Dubai, with tickets donated by a number of Thai authorities and companies.

“I have today ensured that everything has been arranged in the best way. I made contact with the Thai Embassy and they sent personnel to Luleå today, and we have worked through the situation together,” said Norrbotten’s County Governor Per-Ola Eriksson.

On Thursday the first buses travelled southeast via the berry pickers’ camp in Västerbotten, and then on to Arlanda.

The berry pickers were recruited by a staffing agency in Thailand that provides picking services to Swedish companies that purchase berries. The Thai staffing agency promises high incomes for those seeking their fortunes in the Swedish berry forests, but they do not guarantee any income for their employees.

When the pickers travelled the long journey from Thailand to Sweden this year, they faced tussocky forest conditions where berries were sparse. Even under ideal berry picking conditions, the pickers would have to pick considerable quantities of berries every day in order to come close earning the promised income, reports TT.

“During the autumn I will take the initiative to have a meeting with local and regional berry purchasers to come to a solution so that a situation such as this does not repeat itself,” said Eriksson.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

THAILAND

Thai court sentences Spanish man to death for grisly murder

A Thai court sentenced a Spanish man to death on Friday for the grisly murder of a fellow Spaniard whose dismembered body parts were discovered in Bangkok's main river last year.

Published: 21 April 2017 10:28 CEST
Thai court sentences Spanish man to death for grisly murder
Artur Segarra walks handcuffed and surrounded by police officers after he arrived by helicopter at the Tha Raeng police aviation base in Bangkok on February 8th 2016. Photo: AFP

Artur Segarra, 38, was convicted of kidnapping and killing 40-year-old David Bernat in an effort to steal tens of millions of baht from the businessman, according to a verdict read out at Thailand's Criminal Court.

“Forensic evidence such as blood stains and fingerprints on (Segarra's) electric grinder had DNA that matched the victim,” the judge said, adding that CCTV footage and testimony from Segarra's maid and girlfriend also implicated him in the killing.

“Therefore the judge sentences the defendant to death on the grounds that he committed premeditated murder in order to steal the victim's money.”

While death sentences are still on the statute books in Thailand it is rare for prisoners to be executed. The last execution was in 2009.

Segarra's lawyer, Jessada Piyasuwanvanich, told reporters his client would likely file an appeal and “fight the case to the end”.

Segarra, who had denied all the charges, appeared calm while the verdict was read and translated to him in Spanish.

When he arrived at court he held his hand up to show the words “Luke 23:34” written in ink on his palm. The Bible citation is a reference to Jesus's final words on the cross.

The macabre murder came to light last January after Thai police began hauling body parts out of the city's Chao Praya River. It took them several days to identify the victim.

Segarra was arrested in neighbouring Cambodia several weeks later.

It is not uncommon for foreigners to get swept up in Thailand's criminal underworld.

Earlier this month an Australian man was sentenced to death for the murder of a former Hells Angels member found beaten and naked in a shallow grave in Pattaya, a popular Thai beach town known for its raunchy nightlife and links to organised crime.

In September, Thai police arrested three Americans in Bangkok after discovering the frozen body parts of another foreigner inside their freezer.

The men were charged with multiple offences and are being held in prison while they await trial.