Engineers claim they have fled the Myanmar conflict to operate in Malaysia.
Described: 20 Apr 2024 at 18:30
Following a police fight in this southern frontier province on Saturday, two Thai vehicles and five illegal migrants from Myanmar were detained. One of them was an engineer.
The refugees claimed they wanted to work in Malaysia after fleeing the fighting there.
After being informed that illegal immigrants had been smuggled into the deep South, highway police, both plainclothes officers and armed ones, were patrolling Highway 43 in tambon Barahor in Muang area on Saturday night.
Eventually, the police discovered two suspicious vehicles traveling along the road: a delivery truck with Pattani license plates and a Toyota Fortuner with Yala panels. The delivery drivers followed their instructions and the vehicles came to a stop. The car contained eight illegal immigrants from Myanmar, which were discovered crammed in. Driver Majo Sabudor, 35, a local of Narathiwat, was arrested along with the workers.
However, the Fortuner driver sped off and the policeman pursued. The speeding car veered off the road and slammed into a trench. Driver Kumasamree Sabudor, 33, of Narathiwat, were arrested. Seven immigrants from Myanmar were discovered inside the car.
After the Toyota Fortuner skidded off the road in Pattani, a plainclothes police agent opens the door to the illegal immigrants from Myanmar. ( Photo: Assawin Pakkawan )
The drivers claimed during questioning that they had taken the migrants from a wooded area close to the Chalung business house in Songkhla’s Bang Klam district.
Mr. Kumasamree received 5,000 rmb, while Mr. Majo claimed that he was hired for 7,000 ringgit per trip. They identified Kuhafit Sabudor, 29, of Narathiwat, as the person who hired them.
The workers claimed to be attempting to flee fighting in their home country to work in Malaysia. A career dealer in Myanmar charged them 87,700 ringgit each, which they were asked to pay on arrival at their location. Among the workers was an expert, arresting officials said.
The migrants claimed that the task agent took them by foot across the Tak Mae Sot district on foot via a path. After being stopped in Pattani, the two cars that had stopped them in Songkhla took them there.
The 15 workers were accused of entering illegally, and the truck drivers were accused of assisting them in avoiding imprisonment.