5-7-2023 (BANGKOK) Twenty undocumented Myanmar migrants were arrested by immigration and local police at a deserted house in Sadao district of Thailand’s southern border province. The house on Ban Chaikhuan Road in tambon Padang Besar was raided on Tuesday following information that it was being used to shelter illegal migrants en route to Malaysia.
The migrants, comprising 16 men and 4 women aged between 19-26 years, were sitting in groups of 3-4 in different corners of the house with coloured ribbons around their wrists indicating where they were from. They had entered Thailand using a natural border crossing in Prachuap Khiri Khan and had travelled from various towns in Myanmar to seek jobs in Malaysia.
Job brokers provided a pickup truck to take them to tambon Padang Besar in Sadao district, on the Malaysian border. They were hiding in the deserted house, waiting for transport to Malaysia. They said they had paid 20,000 baht each to the job brokers for work on construction sites, fishing vessels, or plantations.
All the migrants were arrested on charges of illegal entry. The investigation was extended to those who smuggled them into Thailand.
