SURAT THANI: Two drivers and 42 illegal migrants from Myanmar were arrested in Phunphin district in the early hours of Friday following a chase involving one of two pickup trucks used for smuggling.
Police initially stopped a white pickup truck with a tarpaulin covering a bed fitted with steel bars on Highway 41 in tambon Nong Sai around 3am. The search found 18 men, all illegal migrants, in the bed of the vehicle.
Driver Nopparat Maenwiharn was arrested, said Pol Lt Chaiyaporn Phonchai, deputy crime suppression chief at the Phunphin police station.
During questioning, the driver told police that there was another pickup transporting illegal migrants following his vehicle.
The officers then set up a road checkpoint. Around 4.30am, a white pickup with a tarpaulin covering its bed like the first vehicle arrived. The police signalled the vehicle to stop, but the driver sped off. The officers gave chase for about 7 kilometres before they decided to fire shots at the left rear tyre to stop it.
Driver Phawas Saengthong-aram was arrested. Twenty-four illegal migrants — 20 men and 4 women — were found in the bed of the vehicle.
The two drivers told police they had been hired for 15,000 baht to transport the migrants from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Hat Yai district of Songkhla.
The pair were charged with collusion in smuggling illegal migrants while the Myanmar nationals were charged with illegal entry. All of them were handed over to Phunphin police for legal action.