CHIANG MAI: A patrol from the 3rd Cavalry Company of the Pha Muang Force arrested 18 Myanmar nationals who illegally crossed the border into Fang district of this northern province on Sunday morning, police said.
The patrol found the illegal border crossers - eight men, seven women and three children - at about 5am near a border village called Kangti in tambon Mae Ngon.
They were brought to the company's operation base at Ban Luang village.
Police said that in an initial interrogation, the border crossers said they illegally slipped through a natural border crossing after having paid 25,000 baht each to brokers who promised to take them to work sites in Thailand. They were found and arrested while waiting for transportation to travel further inside the country.
They were handed over to police for further legal proceedings, pending deportation.