KANCHANABURI - Fifteen Myanmar job seekers who each paid a broker 12,000 baht to get them work in Thailand were arrested in Muang district for illegal entry after their passports were found to carry fake visa stamps.
Immigration police and soldiers raided a rented house in tambon Pak Phraek around 10.30pm on Monday following a tip-off foreign nationals suspected of entering the country illegally were staying there.
They found 15 Myanmar nationals, men and women, in front of the rented house with their bags.
When their passports were examined they were found to be legal, but the visa stamps in them were forged.
All were charged with illegal entry.
The householder, a Myanmar man identified only as Yao, 43, was also arrested.
One of the arrested job seekers, identified as Ms Moei, 28, said she and her friends had paid the equivalent of 12,000 baht each to a Myanmar job broker known as Wiang Ku. He promised to take them to jobs waiting for them in inner provinces of Thailand. Instead, they had lost all their money, she said.
They were handed over to Muang district police for legal action and deportation to Myanmar.