KANCHANABURI: Thirty-five illegal migrants - 13 Myanmar nationals and 22 Rohingya from an unspecified country - were arrested and charged with illegal entry after they were rounded up by a patrol of the Lat Ya Task Force in Sangkhlaburi district of this western border province on Saturday.
The Lat Ya Task Force is responsible for patrolling the border with Myanmar in Sangkhlaburi, Thong Pha Phum, Sai Yok, Muang and Dan Makham Tia districts.
Col Chalermpol Sangtong, the force's deputy commander, said that at about 2pm a patrol from Ban Nam Kerik checkpoint spotted a young man talking on his phone about three kilometres from a natural border crossing over Song Kalia stream. The man, 19, a Myanmar national identified as Ngae, was brought for questioning.
He admitted to being a guide for a number of migrants crossing the border into Thailand. He was looking for them when spotted by the patrol.
Patrol members managed to round up 35 migrants hiding in a bamboo forest, waiting to be brought further inside the country to look for jobs.
The 35 -- along with the guide, a member of a human trafficking gang, were initially charged with illegal entry. They were handed over to Sangkhlaburi police for legal proceedings.