Eleven illegal migrant workers from Myanmar were arrested along with a Thai driver in Thong Pha Phum district on Friday morning.
Officials set up a road checkpoint at the Thong Pha Phum junction on Highway 323 in tambon Than Khanum at 8.30am on Friday after receiving information that that a van was being used to smuggle migrants into the province.
When they spotted the suspect Toyota van heading from Thong Pha Phum towards Muang district, officers signalled the driver to stop. The driver, identified as Prasit, 33, a Thai national from Sam Phran district in Nakhon Pathom, cooperated.
Inside the van, officials found 11 Myanmar migrants – 7 men and 4 women. When asked for documentation, they produced photocopied documents, including foreign birth certificates, copies of certificate of identity cards, and work permits compliant with a 2022 Thai cabinet resolution. However, none of the documents were certified, and all had expired.
Immigration officers later confirmed the documents were invalid due to expiration.
All 11 migrants were handed over to Thong Pha Phum police for legal proceedings on charges of illegally entering and residing in Thailand. The driver will be charged with assisting illegal migrants to evade arrest.
Mr Prasert initially told police he had picked up the workers at the Sala Daeng pier in Chong Ua village Moo 4 of Sangkhla Buri district at 3am on Friday. He was asked to transport hem to a meeting point in Muang district of Kanchanaburi, where another vehicle would take them further.
During questioning, the migrants said through an interpreter that they had crossed the border illegally into Sangkhla Buri and travelled by boat to the Sala Daeng pier, where the van picked them up. They intended to work in provinces such as Samut Songkhram and Samut Sakhon, having paid brokers between 15,000 and 16,000 baht each.