Police Phichit arrests minivan with 39 illegal workers from Myanmar
Phichit police stopped a van at fast 115 just before the weekend after receiving a tip that the highway was being used to transport workers from Myanmar.
The police didn’t know what happened to them, 39 people came out of the van, 17 men and 22 women, all from Myanmar, and none of them had the correct documentation.
One of the migrants said the group had walked to the Thai border and slipped into Thailand through natural channels in the north. They then travelled by bus to Phichit Province, where they met the van driver who would take them to their employers.
The driver, who hails from Sukhothai, has reportedly confessed that he was hired to pick up and drop off the illegal migrants from Phichit in Nakhon Sawan for jobs on construction sites.
Initial investigation revealed that the driver had been arrested four times in the past, once for drug use, once for illegally possessing a firearm and twice for smuggling migrants.
The 39 Myanmar nationals have been placed in isolation where they will be tested for Covid-19 before being charged with illegally entering the country.
The driver will also be tested before being charged with allowing illegal entry into the country.
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