Myanmar migrants smuggling ring busted in Ayutthaya
On January 21 at 5pm, Ayutthaya immigration police, in collaboration with highway police, apprehended a 39 year old Myanmar national, Zaw Zaw Lin, and a 32 year old Myanmar national, Nae Sein Ma, for illegally transporting 10 Myanmar nationals in a vehicle.
The arrest took place along kilometres 46-47 on Highway 32, Asia Road, Thato subdistrict, Maharaj district, Ayutthaya province. They were driving a white Isuzu MU-7 with the license plate number 3869 Bangkok, allegedly smuggling undocumented migrants towards Ayutthaya province.
Police Colonel Satit Wichaikul, head of Ayutthaya Immigration, reported that the arrest followed a tip-off about an illegal immigrant smuggling operation heading towards Ayutthaya. Officers from Ayutthaya and Sing Buri highway police, together with Ayutthaya Immigration Police, coordinated to track down the vehicle.
They noticed the vehicle moving at high speed with a weight suggesting it was overloaded.
Officers signalled the driver to stop using flashing red lights, a siren, and microphone commands. Upon inspection, the driver was identified as Zaw Zaw Lin, with Nae Sein Ma as the front passenger. In the vehicle, 10 Myanmar nationals were found crammed in, none possessing passports or substitute documents.
Zaw Zaw Lin confessed to receiving a call from a woman, Saengchan, via a messaging app to pick up the migrants from Chai Nat province. He invited Nae Sein Ma to accompany him on the journey from Bangkok to Chai Nat to collect and transport the migrants to Bangkok and surrounding areas.
Lin charged each migrant 800 baht (US$24) for the trip, while Saengchan was to transfer his payment to Sein Ma’s bank account. He admitted to undertaking such activities multiple times.
Sein Ma confirmed being asked by Lin to join the journey without receiving payment, though she acknowledged using her bank account for transaction purposes. The migrants admitted, through an interpreter, to entering Thailand illegally via natural routes in Mae Sot district, Tak province, paying between 5,000 and 15,000 baht (US$147 to 442) each for the journey.
Zaw Zaw Lin and Sein Ma were charged with knowingly assisting illegal immigrants to reside or hide to avoid arrest. The migrants were charged with entering and staying in the kingdom without permission, reported KhaoSod.
They were all taken, along with evidence, to Maharaj Police Station in Ayutthaya province for legal proceedings.