Migrant smuggler nabbed in Pattani

Suspect accused of assisting Bangladeshis in traveling to Malaysia via Thailand

Migrant smuggler nabbed in Pattani
The mind of the Immigration Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Ittipol ITtisarnronnachai, announces the arrest of a Thai person wanted in connection with an organization that assisted Bangladeshis in emigrating to Malaysia. ( Image: Immigration Department )

Police in Pattani have detained a Thai person who is wanted in connection with the human smuggling ring that allowed Bangladeshis to travel from Thailand to Malaysia for between 100,000 and 140 000 baht per head.

The 56-year-old believe, according to the Immigration Bureau, initially identified himself only as Loh while being held in the Nong Chik area of the southern boundary state, but this was later discovered to be a false identity.

He was accused of aiding newcomers in entering Thailand illegally, a charge to which he admitted, according to Pol Lt. Gen. Ittisarnronnachai, the bureau’s director.

According to Pol Lt Gen Ittipol, the suspect was one of the essential crew members that authorities had been pursuing since a assault in the Sai Buri district of Pattani on October 30.

He added that a 64-year-old guy who went by the name of Je-arong was detained on that day, along with an Isuzu pickup truck and two cellular phones.

He was accused of helping seven Bangladeshis illegally enter Thailand.

The police eventually discovered that the seven Bangladeshis, who were also accused of illegal entry, had each paid the group for which Mr. Je-arong worked to have them picked up in a border region in the Aranyaprathet city of Sa Kaeo, on the Thai border, between 100,000 and 140 000 ringgit.

It is still unknown how they got from Bangladesh to Cambodia.

According to Pol Lt Gen Ittipol, the agreement even required driving them to the Yaring region in Pattani, where they would have entered neighboring Malaysia had they eluded local authorities.

According to Pol Lt Gen Ittipol, Mr. Loh has been on the Immigration Bureau’s see record since 2021 for helping Myanmar illegal immigrants enter Thailand through regions in the lower South.