KANCHANABURI: Thirty-three Myanmar migrants, including nine Rohingya hoping to get to Malaysia, were rounded up overnight after they crossed the border illegally in Sangkhla Buri district.
A joint military-police-civilian patrol spotted the group hiding in a forested area near the Hin Sam Kon natural crossing in tambon Nong Lu around 11.45pm on Friday. A three-year-old girl and an 11-month old baby girl were among the 16 males and 17 females, who looked exhausted when officers found them.
All were taken to the Sangkhla Buri police station, where they received food and drinking water as they had not eaten anything for several days.
The group included four Rohingya men and five women who had travelled from Rakhine state, where the Muslim minority has faced severe persecution. They told investigators they had paid 20,000 baht each to a job broker in Myanmar to arrange work for them in Malaysia.
The other migrants told police they had paid between 14,000 and 16,000 baht each to various brokers to arrange jobs in Ratchaburi, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon.
Col Chalermphol Sangtong, deputy commander of the Lat Ya task force, said his team had received information that a group of people suspected of being illegal migrants were hiding in a forested area in tambon Nong Lu.
One of the migrants who could speak Thai said his group had contacted a Myanmar job broker by phone and they were told to gather at Payatongsu, opposite Ban Phra Chedi Sam Ong on the Thai side of the border. They went there on March 2.
On Friday, the broker sent four Myanmar men, who led them through a mountainous area and across the Songkhalia River to the Thai side. They were told to wait in the forest for vehicles which never arrived.
Police escorted them to Sangkhla Buri Hospital for further checks before they were taken to Sangkhla Buri police station for legal action, Col Chalerm‑ phol said.
Meanwhile, nine Myanmar migrant workers, eight men and a pregnant woman, were abandoned on the side of the road in Kamphaeng Phet while they were heading to Tak yesterday.
A combined force of police and local officials came across them on the Phahon Yothin Road in Muang district at 10am, after being alerted by local residents.
All have legal passports and they told police they worked in pig farms in Ratchaburi, Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram.
One of the migrants, who spoke Thai, said that they hired van from a company in Saraburi for 10,500 baht to bring them to Tak's Mae Sot district. It was not clear why they were travelling to Tak.
The van driver also promised there would be another van to pick them up in the morning. The van, however, had not arrived.