Kanchanaburi fishery official allegedly smuggled migrants from Myanmar

Police caught a fishery official at a checkpoint in Kanchanaburi province allegedly smuggling three migrant women from Myanmar into Thailand. Police say the official confessed to illegal transporting the women across the border. All were taken to Muang district police for legal proceedings. The Burmese women were charged with illegal entry and the official with helping foreigners enter the country illegally.

The official said he drove across the border into Myanmar to refuel his car at a petrol station. At the station, he was asked to take the three women across the border in his vehicle and was paid 2,000 baht for transporting each of them. The official said he had done this twice in the past as well.

The three women said they were from Yangon and had paid 20,000 baht each to brokers who promised them jobs in Bangkok.

Kanchanaburi is a common spot for Thai authorities to catch people smuggling in migrants, mainly from bordering Myanmar. In January, there was a report of over 100 migrants caught in the province for illegal entry.

The vast majority of Burmese migrants in Thailand are economic migrants, however, some Burmese migrants also arrive here fleeing persecution. This is particularly true of minority groups such as the Karen hill tribe. A survey conducted by the Thai Ministry of Interior found that 4.3% of the illegal labour migrants from Myanmar and Cambodia came to Thailand because of political (persecution) and conscription of labour.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post | Thai Law Forum