Highway police arrested five Chinese men and two Thais for carrying no legal travel documents, in this southern province on Saturday night.
According to the Central Investigation Bureau, police stopped a brown Hyundai H-1 van driving suspiciously fast in the right lane with curtains drawn on Highway 41 in tambon Wisai Tai of Sawee district, Chumphon, at 11.40pm on Saturday.
A search found Lin Gun, 30, He Dachun, 39, Zhang Buizi, 30, Xie Jia, 35, and Jiang Jiahui, 38, in the vehicle. They had no legal travel documents and claimed to be travelling from Cambodia to Malaysia, via Thailand.
Police also found two Thais, Somprasop, 53, and Preecha, 38, in the van. One of them was the driver and the other was escorting the men. Police seized eight mobile phones from the group.
The Chinese men told police, via an interpreter, that they sneaked into Thailand from Cambodia and were heading for Malaysia.
The Thai suspects said they were hired for 20,000 baht to pick up the Chinese group in the Central Plains and drop them off in Chana district of Songkhla, which borders Malaysia.