KANCHANABURI: Fifty-seven Myanmar nationals were arrested at a border village in Muang district of this western border province on Monday by a government patrol, police said.
Acting on a tip-off from local informants, the combined military-police patrol rushed to a forest near Chan Ui, the Moo 5 village in tambon Lat Ya, and found a large group of illegal border crossers hiding there, waiting for transportation to take them further inside the country.
On the seeing the patrol members, they fled in different directions. The soldiers and police managed to round up 25 men, 30 women and two children.
The migrants told police they were from Mawlamyine and Phyathonezu townships in Myanmar. They said they had paid 20,000-28,000 baht each to brokers who them jobs in Ratchaburi, Chon Buri, Pathum Thani and Surat Thani provinces.
They were handed over to Lat Ya police for legal proceedings on a charge of illegal entry, pending deportation.