ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By THE IRRAWADDY | Police in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, launched a crackdown on illegal Burmese migrant workers following the rape and murder of a Thai university student, allegedly by two Burmese.

Reports in the Thai media said a 22-year-old Burmese construction worker had been arrested in connection with the crime and police were seeking a second man.

The 22-year-old Thai victim, who had been studying business administration at Chiang Mai’s Mae Jo University, was found dead in her dormitory room on February 8. Police said she had been raped and killed on February 7.

A local news web site, www.tnews.teenee.com, said that when news of the murder became known local people, including Mae Jo University students, called for the removal of Burmese construction workers from the area of the university campus.

About 100 illegal migrant workers were arrested by immigration police on Tuesday, a human rights group reported. A Burmese worker at Chiang Mai’s Night Bazaar told The Irrawaddy Burmese migrants feared a wider police crackdown.

More than 80,000 Burmese migrants, the majority of them Shan, are estimated to be working, legally and illegally, in Chiang Mai.