Ayutthaya: Police and soldiers yesterday stopped a convoy of eight cars loaded with 54 illegal Myanmar migrant workers in Ayutthaya's Bang Pahan district.
Col Ronnawut Ruangsawat, deputy director of the Ayutthaya office of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), said officials were dispatched to intercept the convoy after obtaining intelligence that a number of Myanmar migrant workers would be transported along the Asian Highway, destined for Bangkok.
After officials stopped the eight cars — three of them registered as metered taxis — they found them loaded with 28 men, 23 women and three children. All were charged with illegal entry and will be deported.
The Thai drivers of the eight cars were also arrested and said they were taking the Myanmar nationals from the border town of Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province to employers on Navamin Road in Bangkok.
The drivers were charged with illegally transporting the Myanmar migrants and face additional charges of human trafficking.
Isoc authorities believe the drivers are part of a human-trafficking racket, Col Ronnawut said.