Vegetable truck found smuggling 52 illegal immigrants in western Thailand
In a shocking discovery, a vegetable transport truck was found to be smuggling 52 illegal immigrants in the Mae Sot district of western Thailand. This startling revelation happened during a joint police and special border task force operation on the Mae Sot-Tak Road, at the Huai Hin Fon inspection point, in the Mae Sot district today.
While on duty, officials came across a white, long, six-wheel Hino truck, license number 72-7815 from Nakhon Pathom. The vehicle, driven from the Mae Sot border and heading towards the inspection point, was loaded with lettuce. Initially, its inspection around the vehicle yielded no irregularities. However, the driver, Sakarin Kaewsri, 37 years old, seemed perturbed.
Consequently, officials prodded the bags of vegetables into the truck with a pointed iron rod. They were taken aback when they heard cries of pain from within the bags and hastened to excavate the load.
Much to their shock, they discovered that the truck’s compartment had been modified to include two hidden levels. Inside these covert slots resided 52 illegal immigrants from Myanmar. These individuals had to be quickly rescued as they were huddled in limited space with scarce breathing air and a pungent smell from the vegetables, many of them were on the verge of fainting due to the prolonged cramped and oppressive conditions.
Preliminary investigations revealed that all these illegal immigrants had snuck into the country via natural passageways. An unidentified broker had lured them with the promise of lucrative earnings in Bangkok, but each of them had to pay a hefty transport fee of 20,000 baht.
Following the discovery, law enforcement detained the driver, while the 52 illegal immigrants were taken into international welfare care, reported KhaoSod.
In Thailand, there has been a noticeable surge in illegal immigrants.
Just recently, a man from Songkhla was apprehended by the police for attempting to smuggle 14 undocumented Burmese individuals into the country for a whopping sum of 30,000 baht. The authorities have highlighted that such illegal activities have become increasingly common on highways, prompting them to take more stringent safety measures to curb these activities. Read more HERE.
