PUBLISHED: 10 Jul 2024 at 12: 01
NAKHON SAWAN: On Wednesday, 16 illegal refugees from Myanmar and four Thai pirates were detained after being discovered crammed into a delivery truck at a pharmaceutical station in the Phayuha Khiri area.
Following details that two suspected vehicles from Mae Sot region in Tak state were moving along Phahonyothin Road in Phayuha Khiri, according to Pol Col Paitoon Ngamlap, head of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau’s drug surveillance device, two dark pickups with Bangkok license plates were signalled by drug suppression officers manning the checkpoint for a search at around 1am.
The soldiers found three Thai people – 48-year-old vehicle Winai Wana-awut and two youths – inside the car. Authorities claim that the car was leading another pick about 10 kilometers away. All were detained for questioning.
The second feared delivery eventually arrived at the station with Bangkok license plates. Officers stopped it for a research, discovering 27-year-old Thai regional Payut Thaokrasasin behind the wheel.
10 guys and 6 women were among the 16 Myanmar nationals discovered lying in a room in the back of the car. All were improper workers.
Mr. Winai claimed to have been hired by a man whose name was unknown for 10,000 baht to carry the refugees from Mae Sot to Ayutthaya province, where they would join them and get them to their places of employment.
The four Thai men were originally charged by the officers with assisting illegal immigrants in entering the country without permission and preventing them from being detained. The 16 workers face a charge of entering illegally. To pursue legal action, all were kept in police custody.
One of the supected pickup trucks has a air leak. ( Captured from a police video clip/Chalit Poomruang )