Soldiers from Rangers Company 1205 of the Burapa Force rounded up 106 Cambodian illegal migrant workers at a sugarcane plantation near the border in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district on Sunday morning.
The soldiers and immigration police were dispatched to the area after receiving information that a large number of illegal Cambodian workers had sneaked across the border and hid in the plantation near Ban Khao Din in tambon Khlong Thap Chan.
The 106 Cambodians - 67 men, 33 women, three boys and three girls - said they were from Battambang province. They were waiting for transport to construction sites in Chon Buri and Rayong.
Sa Yod, 30, who can speak Thai, said their former employers told them to let a smuggling gang lead them across the border to wait for transport on the Thai side. They were told that on arriving in Chon Buri and Rayong they could register for a work permit at the one-stop-service centre right away without having to pay 3,000-3,500 baht each for a border pass in Cambodia and more at the one-stop-service registration centre in Aranyaprathet.
He said they each paid 2,500 baht to the smuggling gang.
The illegal Cambodian migrants will be repatriated after going through legal procedures in Aranyaprathet.