SONGKHLA: Twenty-four Rohingya illegal migrants have been found hiding in a paddy field in Bang Klam district since Thursday night without food while awaiting transport to Malaysia.
A team of anti-human trafficking officials, border patrol police, soldiers and local police found 16 men, seven women and a girl aged 7 hiding in the deserted paddy field in tambon Ban Harn on Saturday.
Most of them were in fear and some were crying. They looked tired and hungry after brokers had taken them into hiding in the area, said a member of the team.
Checks found that none of them had passports or any documents. They told the officials that they had travelled from Rakhine state in Myanmar and crossed the border to Thailand via Mae Sot district in Tak province.
Brokers later took them to the paddy field in Bang Klam district late Thursday night pending transport to Malaysia. They were left in the field with no food, water or shelter.
Officials found five mobile phones and one SIM card believed to have been used for contacting the brokers.
Authorities believed the 24 Royingya people were victims of a human trafficking gang. All were taken to the Bang Klam police station.
The discovery comes just a week after 57 illegal migrant workers from Myanmar were found in a rubber plantation in Sadao district of Songkhla. They too had been awaiting transport to Malaysia but became stranded when their broker was arrested.