Police stop cars carrying illegal workers in Thailand
Police stopped two cars carrying 16 illegal workers in Thailand.
Highway police were on patrol when they intercepted the vehicles along Highway No. 11 in Nakhon Sawan, in the early hours of August 11.
The cars were reportedly travelling at high speed and appeared to carry an unusually heavy load.
Officers gave chase, flashing their emergency lights and ordering the drivers to pull over through a loudspeaker. Both vehicles eventually stopped.
Police searched a Mitsubishi Space Wagon and found 11 passengers inside, while another three were discovered in a white Honda Civic.
The drivers, Chit Win Aung, 32, and Burmese national Chalee, 35, were arrested along with the 14 passengers, aged between 18 and 44.
None of the passengers reportedly had passports or identification documents.
The drivers were charged with 'knowingly assisting foreign nationals who had entered the country in violation of the law to evade arrest'.
Chalee faces an additional charge of entering and remaining in Thailand without permission.
The passengers were charged with entering and remaining in the country illegally.
The drivers allegedly told police they had been hired to transport the migrants for between 900 and 1,500 baht each. They reportedly picked up the group from a roadside forest area along Highway No. 11 before driving them towards the lower central region.
The migrants claimed they had entered Thailand illegally through a natural border crossing in western Thailand.
A guide then arranged for them to board the cars after each had paid around 20,000 baht to travel to Thailand in search of work.
Police said the operation came amid a crack down on illegal migrant smuggling networks transporting workers into inner Thailand.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Suphakorn Tangkhaprasert of the Highway Police Division said: ‘All suspects and seized evidence were handed over to the inquiry officer at Takhli Police Station for further legal action.
‘We will expedite the investigation to track down others involved in the illegal migrant smuggling ring for prosecution.'
