Police were hunting for about 60 Cambodians believed to be hiding in a national park last night after earlier catching 39 others.
The 39 Cambodian men were rounded up and taken to the Khon Buri police station for prosecution while they were asking residents for food in Ban Nong Bot village of tambon Khok Krachai in Khon Buri district on Monday night. According to Khon Buri district chief Supoj Saenme, Thai and Cambodian smugglers had brought the men across the border into Sa Kaeo province and ordered them to cut rosewood trees in Thap Lan National Park. They had arrived in two groups of about 50 each nearly a month ago for the illicit job.
However, when they reached the park, they could not enter the specific spots where they were instructed to fell the trees due to stepped-up patrols by the authorities. As a result, the Thai smugglers left them there and they ran out of food.