Police arrest 32 in Kanchanaburi smuggling operation
Police in Kanchanaburi pursued a gang smuggling illegal workers, resulting in the arrest of 32 people. The driver managed to escape, abandoning the vehicle. Workers were found with a string tied to their wrists, indicating their intended work locations in various provinces.
Police Major General Khongkrit Lertsitthikul, commander of the Highway Police Division, and Police Colonel Pakhapol Suchon, commander of the 2nd Subdivision, received a report from Police Major Jo Saophrakon about an incident involving a suspicious pickup truck on Highway 323 between Kanchanaburi and Sai Yok. The vehicle was travelling at an unusually high speed.
Officers in the area, including Police Lieutenant Colonel Amnat Seenual and others, attempted to stop the truck by using loudspeakers but the driver accelerated to evade capture. The highway police coordinated with various law enforcement agencies, including the Anti-Human Trafficking Division, Immigration Bureau in Kanchanaburi, and military units, to intercept the vehicle.
The pursuit led the suspect to a dirt road heading towards Wang Sing Railway Station. Eventually, police discovered the grey Isuzu D-Max with registration plate บบ 6998 Ayutthaya abandoned near the railway tracks.
The driver had fled before the police arrived. Inside the truck, 32 Myanmar nationals, both male and female, were found attempting to escape. The highway police used loudspeakers to instruct them to stop, successfully apprehending all of them.
They were then taken to the Sai Yok Highway Police Service Centre for further questioning.
Preliminary investigations revealed that they had illegally entered Thailand through natural routes from Payathonsu, Myanmar, near the Three Pagodas Pass in Sangkhla Buri district.
A broker had guided them along forest paths to evade checkpoints. They were then picked up by a vehicle to be transported to various provinces for work.
Of the 32, 26 were headed to Koh Samui in Surat Thani, with plans to continue to Malaysia, each paying 40,000 baht to the broker.
Four were destined for Bangkok, paying 11,500 baht each, and two were going to Maha Chai in Samut Sakhon, paying 13,000 baht each.
Workers had coloured strings tied to their wrists as indications of their destinations; for example, those going to Koh Samui had yellow strings, reported KhaoSod.
After confessing, the highway police recorded the details and handed the individuals over to investigators at Sai Yok Police Station to face charges under the Immigration Act for entering Thailand illegally without permission.
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