"AP Tracks Slave Boats To Papua New Guinea"

"YANGON, Myanmar — From space, the fishing boats are just little white specks floating in a vast stretch of blue water off Papua New Guinea. But zoom in and there's the critical evidence: Two trawlers loading slave-caught seafood onto a massive refrigerated cargo ship.

The trawlers fled a slave island in Indonesia with captives of a brutal Southeast Asian trafficking ring whose catch reaches the United States. Hundreds of men were freed after they were discovered there earlier this year, but 34 boats loaded with workers left for new fishing grounds before help arrived — they remain missing.

After a four-month investigation, The Associated Press has found that at least some of them ended up in a narrow, dangerous strait nearly 1,000 miles away. The proof comes from accounts from recently returned slaves, satellite beacon tracking, government records, interviews with business insiders and fishing licenses. The location is also confirmed in images from space taken by one of the world's highest resolution satellite cameras, upon the AP's request."

Robin Mcdowell, Martha Mendoza, and Margie Mason report for the Associated Press July 27, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes" (New York Times)

"Ending the Abuse of Laws, Workers and the Environment at Sea" (New York Times)

"Stowaways and Crimes Aboard a Scofflaw Ship" (New York Times)

"Murder at Sea: Captured on Video, but Killers Go Free" (New York Times)

"‘Sea Slaves’: The Human Misery That Feeds Pets and Livestock" (New York Times)