CHON BURI: Police and military officers arrested about 100 illegal migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar in Bang Lamung district on Wednesday after receiving reports of interracial brawls at a construction site.
A 150-strong combined police and military team surrounded a 20-rai construction camp site of Worakij Co in tambon Nong Prue and searched the make-shift houses of about 1,000 migrant workers, mostly Myanmar and Cambodian. Some illegal workers reportedly ran into a nearby bush to avoid arrest after the officials asked all of them to gather at an open ground and show their work permits.
Police detained more than 100 Cambodian and Myanmar males and females after they failed to present the documents. They were charged with illegal entry and would be deported.
Pol Col Trairong Pewpan, deputy chief of Chon Buri police, said the raid was carried out after there had been three brawls between the Myanman and Cambodian workers at the camp in less than a week. The fights had become an interracial issue between the two groups of workers and had left many people injured. Residents living near the camp site felt unsafe and feared the fighting would erupt again.
Pol Col Trairong said authorities urged all workers to reconcile because they were doing the same jobs and lived in the same camp. He warned tough action would be taken against any migrant worker caught taking part in violent disputes.
