Police round up hundreds of Cambodian immigrants

SA KAEW: -- Police and military officers today captured over 400 illegal Cambodian immigrants, as they tried to cross over the border into Thailand, many of them packed into ten-wheeled lorries.

The first group was captured shortly after dawn in Aranya Prathet district of the country's eastern province of Sa Kaew, where police intercepted a ten-wheeled lorry following receiving a tip-off that it contained illegal labourers.

Opening the back of the lorry, the police officers discovered 105 young Cambodians, including six children, who confessed to having paid Bt2,500 to an agent to be smuggled across the border.

Sixteen of the labourers were apparently travelling to work on the construction of Bangkok's new international airport, while others were travelling to work as farm and industrial labourers.

Around half of them said that they had not been given a destination.

Pol. Lt. Col. Sakchai Phudech, acting superintendent of Aranya Prathet district police station, said this morning's arrest pointed to the growing problem of cross-border human trafficking, with huge numbers of Cambodians currently trying to cross over into Thailand.

Yesterday evening police in Aranya Prathet district arrested another 119 Cambodian labourers, again in a ten-wheeled truck, apparently destined for work in the eastern province of Chonburi.

And this morning army officers captured 270 Cambodians hiding in a village in tambon Muang Phai, where they were awaiting vehicles to take them on to their final destinations.

--TNA 2005-04-26

And no mention of the employers hiring them...

I have my doubts as to why construction workers keep their faces covered even though it's raining or after sunset.