Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon has given an ultimatum to his staff to flush out officials found complicit in human trafficking.
The deputy prime minister gave the directive at a meeting of a committee on human trafficking suppression recently, said Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich.
The meeting also officially acknowledged the US Department of State's Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report and discussed future operations.
The US released the 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report in June, which saw Thailand ranked as Tier 2 for the second consecutive year after it rose from Tier 3 in 2014-2015 and from the Tier 2 Watchlist in 2016-2017.
A Tier 2 ranking means the government has made significant strides in raising the country's compliance to a higher level. The report praised the country for saving more victims, and sentencing convicted traffickers and complicit officials to long prison terms.
However, the US urged Thailand to do more to improve its standards in other key areas such as law enforcement. Among them is dealing with officials complicit in human trafficking.
