The alleged leader of a gang smuggling illegal workers from Myanmar to Bangkok and surrounding areas has been arrested in Uthai Thani province, immigration police said on Wednesday.
Wattanakhon Khonchamkad, alias Ou Khon, was apprehended at Ban Nong Phreu intersection on Lan Sak-Ban Rai Road in Ban Rai district of Uthai Thani late Tuesday night by a team of Tak immigration police.
He was carrying a 9mm pistol with eight bullets, said police. The suspect was charged with smuggling and habouring illegal migrants and illegal possession of firearms before being handed over to Ban Rai police station for legal action.
Mr Wattanakhon, wanted on a court warrant issued on April 3, is accused of being a key player in the smuggling of illegal workers from border areas in Tak to inner provinces and Bangkok. His gang members have been arrested in a string of police operations.
Mr Wattanakhon narrowly escaped arrest on March 14, fleeing on foot when immigration police shot out the tyres of his pickup truck when he refused to stop his vehicle for a search at a police checkpoint in tambon Wang Prachop in Tak’s Muang district. Seventeen illegal Myanmar migrants were found crammed in the vehicle he abandoned.
The migrants, 13 men and four women, confessed they had paid 15,000 baht each to the suspect for smuggling them into the country.