KANCHANABURI: Thirteen Myanmar job-seekers, one with a child, were arrested in Sangkhlaburi district for illegal entry in the early hours of Wednesday.
Villagers at a vegetable farm on the bank of the Ranti river earlier reported seeing people wading across the river that marks the border and heading in the direction of an abandoned mine.
A team of local officials, police and soldiers manning the border checkpoint at Ranti bridge went to investigate.
About 2am, they found 14 people hiding in a bamboo forest near Thi Khong village, in Khao Laem National Pak. There were seven men, six woman and one child, all from Myanmar.
The illegal migrants were taken to the Ranti bridge checkpoint, where their temperatures were checked. None had a fever.
The border-crossers said they were all from Moulmein in Myanmar and were heading for a worksite in Bangkok, where relatives were already working. The adults were to pay 15,000 baht each to travel brokers on arriving at the site. Some of them had already paid half of the sum, they said.
Led by three Myanmar guides, they had walked from Bo Yipun village, near Payathonzu town, to the Song Kalia river. From there, they travelled in a car for 20 minutes to the border and waded across the Ranti river to the Thai side of the border.
They then walked to Thi Khrong village, where they were arrested while waiting for a vehicle to take them on towards Bangkok. The three guides fled into the night.
They were handed over to Sangkhlaburi police for legal proceedings.
There were now 102 illegal migrants being detained at the station pending legal action for illegal entry, police said. More were expected. Illegal crossers in search of work were being caught every day.