Cambodians Led to Thai Prison in Chains

Two Cambodian brothers were sent to jail in chains by Thai authorities after being charged with possessing illegal timber as they crossed into Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province on Monday evening, according to a local police report. The suspects, stopped at the Chamka Kor border checkpoint carrying multiple wooden beds and chairs on their way to Sa Kaeo’s Ta Phraya district, were identified as Houn Krouch, 29, and Houn Vith, 26. Both men are from Kampong Thom’s Baray district.

“Two Cambodians were arrested by Thai police, had their feet chained and were sent to prison on charges of illegal wood trading. Their motor-carts and all their furniture was confiscated while the two Cambodians were driving two motor-carts carrying wooden beds and chairs across the Chamka Kor checkpoint in Thmor Pouk district at 4pm on June 27, 2016, to sell in Ta Phraya district in Sa Kaeo province,” the Thai police report said. It added that border officials on the Cambodian side of Chamka Kor tried lobbying with Thai officials for the brothers’ release, but were unsuccessful. The transport of furniture across the Thai border is usually smooth, the report said, and that Monday’s case was unusual.

Neither Baray district nor Thmor Pouk district police officials said they had received reports of the arrests when contacted yesterday. Bun Sokvibol, the Cambodian Consul based in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, echoed the claim.

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26685/cambodians-led-to-thai-prison-in-chains/