KANCHANABURI - A total of 116 Myanmar nationals have been arrested in Sangkhla Buri district of this western province this week for illegally crossing into Thailand.
Pol Col Paitoon Sriwilai, superintendent of the Sangkhla Buri Police Station, said on Wednesday that officers were notified by the 134th Border Patrol Police that a large number of foreigners had been seen in tambon Nong Lu.
Police found 116 people — 72 men and 44 women — sitting on the ground in a bamboo forest.
One who could speak Thai said they had travelled from Payathonzu, a border town where a crackdown on Chinese-run scam businesses has been under way. They entered Thailand via a natural route, they said.
They were waiting for a bus to pick them up to go to work in Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Bangkok and Samut Sakhon, while some were travelling onward to Malaysia. They claimed they had paid a Myanmar broker 18,000 to 20,000 baht each.
Some had been waiting to be picked up for two or three days, they said. (Story continues below)
Some of the 116 illegal migrants from Myanmar found in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi province. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)
In Thong Pha Phum district, meanwhile, 45 illegal migrants were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday.
They admitted having paid up to 70,000 baht each to brokers who had promised them work in inner provinces of Thailand or in Malaysia, police said.
A team of police, soldiers and local officials were dispatched to the Vajiralongkorn dam at 1.30am, acting on information that illegal job seekers were being smuggled in by boat across the reservoir and would land at the Ban Khanun Khee pier.
A pickup truck with Kanchanaburi licence plates was already waiting at the pier when the officers arrived, said district chief Chakrit Tanphiroon.
The pickup driver immediately fled, abandoning the truck. A large group of men and woman who were about to board the pickup also fled into the forest. They were subsequently rounded up.
Police said 45 people were arrested. They were tired and said they had slept very little for several days and had not been given any food.
The arresting team provided them with food and drinking water.
During questioning, the detainees said through an interpreter they had been brought into Thailand along a natural border crossing in Sangkhla Buri district and walked to a pier behind a temple where 4 or 5 boats were moored.
They boarded the boats, which brought them to the Ban Khanun Khee pier.
They had been promised jobs, some in inner provinces of Thailand and others in Malaysia.
Those wanting work in Thailand had each paid brokers in Myanmar 13,000 to 15,000 baht, depending on the distance to their workplaces. The fee for jobs in Malaysia was 70,000 baht each.
All were taken to the Thong Pha Phum police station for legal action and later repatriation to Myanmar.
The 45 Myanmar nationals wait at a police station their arrest in Thong Pha Phum district of Kanchanaburi for illegal entry. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)