Twelve elderly women duped into working as beggars in Malaysia and later arrested there will be allowed to return home on Thursday, the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centres (SBPAC) said on Wednesday.
The SPBAC informed the families of the women on Wednesday that Malaysian authorities will release them on Thursday, and they were expected to head back to Thailand the same day.
The centre said 12 women will be released, and nine others also being held in detention will be allowed to return home later.
All 21 women were convinced by two Thai job brokers that there were jobs selling crispy rice made from fish waiting for them in Malaysia in September last year. Instead, they were forced into begging in Johor state, then arrested in the state capital of Johor Bahru on charges of illegally working.
All are senior citizens aged 50 or more. One is 81 years old. All live in southern border provinces.
The women went to Malaysia through a border checkpoint in Sadao district of Songkhla on Sept 24 and were rounded up by Malaysian authorities in November.
“The agent told the women to take worn-out clothes so people there would pity them and purchase their goods,” the Bernama news agency quoted Masadee Sulong, son of one of the arrested women, Hamita Salae, as saying in November.
Thai authorities have been working to get their release since November.
Mr Masadee said on Wednesday he was happy his mother was coming home. It had been terrible waiting for news of her after she disappeared in Malaysia.
"I still have no idea what will happen when she comes home and learns that my father has since died," he said.