Phuket Police Arrest 25 Illegal Immigrants In Chalong

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Phuket police arrest 25 illegal immigrants in Chalong
Nattha Thepbamrung


Some of the Sri Lankans sit in Chalong Police Station, contemplating how much money and effort they have wasted.

PHUKET: -- Twenty-five illegal immigrants, originally from Sri Lanka, were rounded up this morning in Chalong.

The Lankans – 18 men, six women and a toddler – were spotted by patrol police at about 11.30am, walking along the road in front of Wat Dai, and were arrested.

They told police at Chalong Police Station that they were originally refugees, made homeless in the Sri Lanka civil war, and had been helped by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate to Malaysia in 2006.

Carrying only UNHCR ID cards, they were having trouble getting work in Malaysia. An agent offered to bring them into Thailand where, they were told, they could get jobs in Phuket.

The agent charged each of the men B5,000 (the women B3,000) to smuggle them across the border from Keddah, after which they made their way to Phuket by bus.

All 25 were locked up in Chalong pending a court appearance, which is expected to be followed by deportation to Malaysia.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-police-arrest-25-illegal-immigrants-in-chalong-38001.php


-- Phuket News 2013-03-20

[Wombat6]

I hope they arrest the Agent as well....he/she..is the criminal in this matter.

[captnhoy]

It would also be interesting to know just how they were smuggled across the border.

[Jonathanukthai]

Deported to Malaysia! They should send them back to Sri Lanka.