Driver, four Chinese held in Chachoengsao

Thai highway police have arrested a 37-year-old driver and four Chinese nationals after stopping a pick-up truck in Chachoengsao allegedly carrying them from the Cambodian border.

The four men were found without legal travel documents after entering Thailand through a natural crossing, police said. They told officers they had travelled from Poipet, Cambodia, and intended to continue to Myanmar for work.

The arrests were made on 12 September on Highway 304, between kilometre markers 102 and 103, in Muang Kao, Phanom Sarakham district.

Police said the group was travelling in an Isuzu pick-up truck, registered in Sa Kaeo. Six mobile phones were also seized.

Police stopped vehicle on Highway 304

The operation was led by Pol Lt Col Phonphat Phupunsap, superintendent of Highway Police Station 1, Division 3, and Pol Lt Col Kamonphop Hanwet, inspector at Highway Police Station 5, Division 3, along with Pol Capt Warayut Jenwichumet, deputy inspector at Highway Police Station 1.

Police had received information about an alleged network moving foreign workers by pick-up from the Sa Kaeo border area, through Prachin Buri, then along Highways 359 and 304 then possibly towards Bangkok.

Officers spotted the vehicle travelling at high speed towards Chachoengsao and coordinated a stop. The driver, identified only as Thotsaphon, was behind the wheel, while the four Chinese men were in the cab.

Police said their bodies and clothing were covered in mud, consistent with travelling through undeveloped terrain.

Driver says he was paid 3,000 baht per person

Thotsaphon allegedly told police he had collected the four men near the border in Khok Sung district, Sa Kaeo, and was to take them to Bangkok. He said he had been paid 3,000 baht for each person transported.

He also told investigators he had been released from prison in April after serving a sentence in a similar case, but had returned to the work because he could not find employment. Police said he was arrested again within four months of his release.

The Chinese suspects, named as Ma Yien Ping, 40, Pu Yien Dong, 36, Fong Thang Sing, 22, and Song Ying Jwun, 32, said they had paid a network 100,000 to 150,000 baht, for the journey.

All five suspects were informed of charges and handed to investigators at Phanom Sarakham Police Station for legal proceedings.

Picture courtesy of Thaitabloid

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15 September 2026