15 Vietnamese arrested for illegally working on cannabis farm in southern Thailand

Thai police arrested 15 Vietnamese workers yesterday for working illegally on a cannabis farm in the southern province of Phetchaburi. The owner of the farm is under investigation.

Phetchaburi Provincial Public Health Office and Administration Office received a complaint from locals in the Tha Yang district that a number of Vietnamese nationals were working on a cannabis farm in the area, and the complainant suspected that the foreigners might be illegal workers.

The authorities, along with officers from Tha Mai Ruak Police Station, raided the ganja farm yesterday. Police said the farm was large, with an area of 16,000 square metres and included 10 cannabis greenhouses. Officers found 11 Vietnamese working on the farm, none of whom had work permits.

The arrested Vietnamese workers confessed that four other colleagues did not come to work that day. Officers later arrested the rest of the Vietnamese nationals at a rented house near the farm. In total, 15 Vietnamese were arrested at the farm.

Police said they would conduct further investigations to arrest the owner of the farm. Officers did not clarify whether the farm was operating legally or not. Officers also seized 127 kilogrammes of cannabis flowers and planting equipment worth more than 1 million baht from the site.

Under Section 15 of the Foreign Workers Act, working in Thailand without a permit is punishable by a fine of between 5,000 and 50,000 baht and deportation. The employer faces a fine of 10,000 to 100,000 baht per worker.

Another arrest of illegal workers was made today, February 7, at a factory in the eastern province of Rayong. Police arrested one Vietnamese, three Chinese and 28 Burmese nationals for working at the company without a permit. Officers did not give details of the company or the employer of the illegal workers.

A week ago, Thai police shut down a massage parlour in the Makkasan neighbourhood of Bangkok after finding Chinese and Vietnamese women offering sex services at the place. Thirty-seven sex workers were arrested at the parlour, including 16 Chinese, 12 Vietnamese and nine Thai women. The managers of the place were one Chinese and five Thais.