90 Burmese arrested at Wat Chalong Fair

CHALONG: Police arrested 90 Burmese at the Wat Chalong Fair on charges of illegal immigration or violating the 8 pm curfew imposed on Burmese, Cambodian and Laotian laborers. Immigration police, together with police from Chalong, swept into the Wat to make the arrests at around midnight on Wednesday. Pol Col Apirak Hongtong, Superintendent of Phuket Immigration Office, said that police had received several complaints from local people that a lot of Burmese workers were at the fair, some of them drunk. Of the 90 workers the police arrested, 22 were found to be working illegally. The rest, while holding valid work permits, were charged with breaking the curfew. “We will cancel the work permits for the 68 legal workers and will send them back to their countries, together with the 22 illegal workers,” Col Apirak said. The police made similar arrests at last year’s fair, netting 115 illegal workers in two days.