Crime Sierra Leone Man Caught Trying to Cross Border

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture courtesy of Daily News.

 

Border patrol soldiers arrested a 46-year-old man from Sierra Leone attempting to cross illegally into Cambodia on foot. The man confessed he had paid nearly 18,000 baht to human traffickers as he wanted to return urgently to his home country following a family bereavement, but was abandoned midway through the journey.

 

At around 23:00 on 10 August, Colonel Chainarong Kasee, commander of the Aranyaprathet task force under the Eastern Military Command, ordered troops from Ranger Company 1206 and the 2nd Infantry Battalion, Royal Guard Regiment to patrol their area after receiving intelligence about suspected illegal border crossings.

 

Officers found the suspect walking along a dark rural road near the agricultural border area of Ban Kud Hin village, Khlong Nam Sai subdistrict, Aranyaprathet district, heading toward Cambodia. He was stopped and detained. The man, later identified as Kamaria Mohamed, had no valid identification documents.

 

Through an interpreter, Kamaria told investigators he first entered Thailand illegally in 2023 and worked selling goods at Pratunam Market in Bangkok. Recently, he received news that a family member had died in Sierra Leone, prompting his urgent desire to return home, via Cambodia. He arranged with an African acquaintance in Cambodia and local guides to help him cross the border unlawfully.

 

Kamaria said he paid an advance of $150 and was to pay an additional $400 upon arrival. However, on the day of crossing, the guides switched vehicles multiple times and abandoned him in a sugarcane field behind Ban Kud Hin, telling him to wait for a pickup that never came. After waiting, he decided to find his own way, but was apprehended by authorities.

 

Following his arrest, Kamaria was handed over to Khlong Nam Sai police for legal proceedings and to clarify his story.

 

 

  Adapted by Asean Now from Daily News 2025-08-12