Police arrest trafficker smuggling Myanmar migrants into Thailand
Police apprehended a vehicle transporting Myanmar migrant workers fleeing domestic conflict to seek employment in Thailand, each paying 15,000 baht. The incident took place yesterday when Vorabodin Lertsuphasinsatit from the Highway Police Division and his team intercepted a black Mitsubishi Pajero with license plate กท 5461 Kamphaeng Phet on Highway 117 in Ban Na, Wachirabarami District, Phichit Province.
The arrest followed a tip-off about a smuggling operation transporting illegal migrants from Ban Tak District, Tak Province, heading towards Ayutthaya Province via Highway 117. Acting on this intelligence, the highway police set up a checkpoint and began their patrol.
Upon reaching the 89 to 90 kilometre mark on Highway 117, they identified the suspect vehicle matching the informant’s description, driving at high speed. Officers signalled the driver to stop but the vehicle attempted to evade capture by speeding into a nearby village. However, unfamiliarity with the area forced the driver back onto Highway 117, where police had established a blockade.
Upon halting the vehicle, officers identified 31 year old Thosaphon, from Tak Province, as the driver. Inside the vehicle were 11 Myanmar nationals, including two women and nine men.
Thosaphon confessed to transporting the migrants to Ayutthaya, admitting that he had conducted similar operations multiple times. He detailed how the migrants crossed into Thailand through a natural border and then travelled by foot to Mae Sot District, Tak Province. From there, they were picked up and driven to various locations in Thailand to find work, each paying a fee of 15,000 baht (US$ 410), Thosaphon said during the interrogation.
“I have been doing this for a while, transporting these people to Ayutthaya. They usually cross the border and walk to Mae Sot, and I pick them up from there,”
Police charged Thosaphon with violating immigration laws by aiding and abetting the illegal entry and residence of foreign nationals. The Myanmar migrants faced charges of entering and staying in the country without permission, reported KhaoSod.
