190 Cambodian workers abandoned

190 Cambodian workers abandoned

SAMUT SAKHON — Police detained 190 illegal Cambodian migrant workers abandoned by Thai brokers in Krathum Baen district on Wednesday.

Police were called to investigate a group of men and women believed to be alien workers who were gathered by a paddy field in Moo 2 village in tambon Tha Sao on Wednesday morning. 

The group, 117 men and 73 women, told police Thai brokers convinced them that three factories in Samut Sakhon wanted a total of 200 migrant workers. They would be paid 300 baht a day with overtime payments, equating to at least 20,000 baht per month. The brokers charged the Cambodians who had passports 15,000 baht and 20,000 baht for those who did not have documentation. 

Pol Lt Boonliang Wansarmngarm, a deputy officer at Krathum Baen police station, said the brokers hired 12 vans to collect the workers in Chanthaburi province and take them to Samut Sakhon where 40 in the group applied for temporary worker permits.

After obtaining the documents, the brokers said the van drivers would take them to the factories where they would be hired to work, and fled. However, the drivers later told them that they had been scammed by the brokers and dropped them at the paddy field at 2am. 

The migrants had been waiting there until police met them at 7am and took them to a nearby Buddhist temple to be fed. 

Pol Lt Boonliang said the Cambodian workers had passports and entered Thailand legally but there were no Thai employers certifying them. The group had been sent to the provincial immigration office for further investigation and legal proceedings, he said.  

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