KANCHANABURI: Fourteen Myanmar nationals were arrested for illegal entry in a border village in Muang district on Friday night.
A team of soldiers and police deployed to patrol border areas at Huai Nam Khao village in tambon Ban Klao spotted a suspected pickup truck and stopped it for a search at around 8pm.
The 14 people found in the vehicle were all Myanmar nationals, six of whom were men. No details were given on whether the pickup truck driver was among those caught.
The arrests were made after Col Chalermphol Sangtong, deputy commander of the Lat Ya military task force, was alerted about the smugging along the route in the village.
During questioning, the suspects said they had come from several Myanmar towns in the hopes of crossing the border. They were destined to work at the Nongnooch Tropical Garden, a large botanical garden and tourist attraction, in Chon Buri.
They had crossed the border via natural crossing on foot. It took them two days to arrive at a spot where they were picked up.
The migrants said they had paid a broker 20,000 baht each.
All were detained. Body temperature checks showed they did not have a fever. They were later taken to Muang police station for legal action.