Kanchanaburi: Thirty-eight Myanmar nationals were arrested on Friday at a reservoir in Sangkhla Buri district for illegally crossing the kingdom's border, local officials said yesterday.
The arrests followed a tip-off that a group of migrant workers had been smuggled into the country and were taking shelter near a reservoir in tambon Prangphen, about 40 kilometres from Three Pagodas border pass, the officials said.
Security forces and park rangers searched the area and found 23 men and 15 women hiding, they said, adding 10 of them came from Yangon and the rest from Mawlamyine.
During questioning, the migrants said they had been led by a man -- whose name and nationality was unknown -- who guided them across the border through a natural corridor.
When they arrived at Muang Kao, another guide on board a boat came to pick them up and take them to an islet, officials said.
The migrants were told to wait there for transport to go further into Thailand before the guide left.
The migrants left Bo Yipoon village in Myanmar early on Tuesday, officials said, adding that many of the women looked exhausted.
One man said his group wanted to get work in Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla. They were to pay up to 15,000 baht per head to those who took them across the border.
The migrants were taken to an exhibition centre in Sangkhla Buri to await deportation. The officers found a boat near their hideout and seized it as part of a probe. They suspect the smuggling is linked to a network in Ban Wangka.