NAKHON SAWAN: Sixteen illegal migrants from Myanmar and four Thai smugglers were arrested early Wednesday after the migrants were found crammed into a pickup truck at a drug checkpoint in Phayuha Khiri district.
Drug suppression police manning the checkpoint signalled a black pickup with Bangkok licence plates for a search at about 1am, following information that two suspected vehicles travelling from Mae Sot district in Tak province were moving along Phahonyothin Road in Phayuha Khiri, said Pol Col Paitoon Ngamlap, chief of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau's drug interdiction unit.
The officers found three Thai men – 48-year-old driver Winai Wana-awut and two youths – inside the vehicle. According to police, the vehicle was leading another pickup about 10 kilometres away. All were detained for questioning.
The second suspected pickup with Bangkok licence plates later arrived at the checkpoint. Police stopped it for a search, discovering 27-year-old Thai national Payut Thaokrasasin behind the wheel.
The officers found 16 Myanmar nationals – 10 men and six women – hiding in a compartment in the bed of the vehicle. All were illegal migrants.
Mr Winai told police he had been hired by a man whose name was not known for 10,000 baht to transport the migrants from Mae Sot to Ayutthaya province, where someone would meet them and take them to their workplaces.
Police initially charged the four Thai men with assisting illegal migrants to enter the country without permission and helping them evade arrest. The 16 migrants were charged with illegal entry. All were held in police custody for legal action.
A ventilation hole in one of the supsected pickup trucks. (Captured from a police video clip/Chalit Poomruang)