Thai Police Nab 84 Illegal Immigrants in Myanmar's Rakhine State Operation

Photo: The Thaiger

In a pre-dawn operation yesterday, police in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, apprehended 84 people from Myanmar's Rakhine State, who entered the country illegally. Acting on a tip-off, Thong Pha Phum police, alongside other agencies, discovered an abandoned pickup truck with obscured plates blocking a road. This led them to a forest search, where they found the immigrants hiding.

The individuals, unable to communicate due to language barriers and lacking identification, recounted their daunting journey. They crossed the Myanmar-Thailand border and navigated dense jungle to reach Sangkhla Buri's river port. Here, they boarded a boat to what would become their pickup point – leading to their eventual discovery.

Interestingly, each migrant had paid 75,000 baht (£1,900) to traffickers, hoping to traverse Thailand en route to Malaysia for work. The operation took a twist as police arrested the driver of the pickup, identifying him as one of the smugglers.

The vehicle was seized, and the immigrants have been moved to local police custody, with legal proceedings anticipated. Authorities are persistently tackling the issues of illegal immigration and human trafficking in the area.