KANCHANABURI: Eighty-seven job seekers from Myanmar and a Thai driver were arrested in two separate operations after they illegally crossed the border into Thailand in Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri districts on Tuesday, police said.
In the first operation, a patrol of local police, border patrol police and soldiers from the Lat Ya Task Force surrounded a modified pickup following a chase for 15 kilometres on Highway No 323, Thong Pha Phum-Sangkhla Buri route at Ban Prang Kasee village in tambon Tha Khanun of Thong Pha Phum district at 1.15am on Tuesday after the driver refused to stop for a search at a road checkpoint.
Driver Chonlachai Chomyong, 39, of Samut Sakhon,and 30 passengers, all Myanmar illegal migrants, were caught, said the arresting team. Five of them were inside the pickup truck while the 25 others were cramped into the bed of the vehicle.
During questioning, police said, Mr Chonlachai admitted to having taken the Myanmar nationals from Ban Khanun Khlee village in tambon Tha Khanun. The migrants were destined for jobs in Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram provinces.
According to police, the driver said he had been hired for 30,000 baht to transport the job-seekers to their destinations and confessed he had done so on several prior occasions. All detainees were checked for fever and their temperatures were normal. They were handed over to Thong Pha Phum police for legal action.
At around 6am on the same day, another patrol of border patrol police and army rangers arrested 57 Myanmar nationals – 37 men and 20 women – at a rubber plantation in tambon Nong Loo of Sangkhla Buri district while they were waiting for transportation to take them further inside Thailand.
The detainees told the arresting team they had to pay 25,000-28,000 baht each to brokers for jobs in Thailand. They were destined for work in tambon Mahachai of Samut Sakhon, tambon Mae Klong in Samut Sakhon, Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Chumphon provinces.
Another 57 illegal border crossers are detained in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi province on Tuesday morning. (Photo supplied: Piyarat Chongcharoen)