Police officers and state officials are suspected of aiding and abetting illegal labour smuggling across the Thai-Myanmar border in Kanchanaburi, according to a senior police officer.
Assistant police chief Pol Lt Gen Jaruwat Vaisaya yesterday revealed the progress in an investigation into the matter, saying an initial probe has found police officers, district officials and officials from various state agencies were involved in illicit labour smuggling in the province.
Penalties vary from case to case with disciplinary action and criminal prosecution a possibility, Pol Lt Gen Jaruwat said, adding that the probe will take one to two weeks.
Illegal labour smuggling and illicit gambling dens have been blamed for the new clusters of Covid-19 infections which have now spread across the country.
A police source said that Pol Gen Wissanu Prasartthong-osod, a police inspector-general, will today meet a panel looking into illegal gambling dens linked to the latest outbreak.
The meeting, which will be held via videoconference, will discuss whether there were any police officers turning a blind eye to illegal gambling dens and who will face disciplinary punishment.
Pol Col Choengron Rimphadee, deputy spokesman of the Immigration Bureau (IB), said that Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, the IB chief, said that the workload of the 2nd Immigration Division which handles immigration at airports has fallen due to the pandemic, which means some can be redeployed to support the work of border immigration checkpoints.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, a combined force of police and local officers yesterday tracked down and recaptured three Rohingya migrants who escaped quarantine.
On Saturday, the three female migrants were arrested in Chian Yai district of the southern province and were placed in quarantine at a local house. However, they managed to escape on Sunday with police believing someone helped them out by breaking the padlock on the door.
But Kittipong Rongdej, chief of Chian Yai district, yesterday informed Nakhon Si Thammarat governor Kraisorn Wisitwong that authorities had tracked down and recaptured the three migrants in Cha-uat district. Police also apprehended a Rohingya man who was acting as a labour broker.