CHIANG MAI: Fifteen more job seekers and two guides from Myanmar were arrested after they crossed the border into Thailand in Fang district shortly before dawn on Saturday.
A patrol from the Pha Muang Task force spotted a group of 11 men and four women walking along the border in tambon Mae Ngon around 5.30am and stopped them from questioning.
Soldiers also found 69 speed pills hidden in a shoulder bag of one of the guides.
During questioning, the migrants told the arresting officers that they had crossed the border to get work in Thailand. They were destined for jobs in Chiang Mai and Bangkok and had paid 20,000 baht per head to the guides.
Illegal migration from Myanmar has been rising steadily in recent months as the economy has deteriorated substantially since the Feb 1 coup.
Employers in Thailand need tens of thousands of labourers as the economy reopens but attempts to bring them in legally are fraught with difficulty.
Neotiations with Nay Pyi Taw to renew a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour imports changed after the coup in February, while the pandemic has further complicated labour import procedures.
The army, meanwhile, has stepped up surveillance of the porous 2,400-kilometre border to prevent illegal crossings as part of stepped up efforts to further suppress Covid-19.