PATTANI: Fifteen illegal migrants from Myanmar, one of them an engineer, were arrested along with two Thai drivers following a police chase in this southern border province on Saturday.
The migrants claimed they wanted to flee the fighting in their country to work in Malaysia.
Highway police, both uniformed and plainclothes officers, were patrolling Highway 43 in tambon Barahor in Muang district on Saturday morning after receiving a tip that illegal migrants would be smuggled into the deep South.
The patrol later spotted two suspicious vehicles — a pickup truck with Pattani licence plates and a Toyota Fortuner with Yala plates — travelling along the road. They signalled the vehicles to stop and the pickup driver complied. Eight illegal migrants from Myanmar were found crammed inside the vehicle. Driver Majo Sabudor, 35, a native of Narathiwat, was arrested along with the migrants.
But the Fortuner driver sped off and police gave chase. The speeding vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a ditch. Driver Kumasamree Sabudor, 33, of Narathiwat, was arrested. Seven Myanmar nationals were found inside the vehicle.
A plainclothes police officer opens the door of a Toyota Fortuner carrying illegal migrants from Myanmar after the vehicle skidded off the road in Pattani. (Photo: Assawin Pakkawan)
During questioning, the drivers said they had picked up the migrants from a forested area near the Chalung industrial estate in Bang Klam district of Songkhla.
Mr Majo said he was hired for 7,000 baht per trip while Mr Kumasamree received 5,000 baht. They identified Kuhafit Sabudor, 29, of Narathiwat, as the person who hired them.
The migrants told police that they wanted to flee fighting in their country to work in Malaysia. A job broker in Myanmar charged them 87,700 baht each, which they were asked to pay on arrival at their destination. Among the migrants was an engineer, arresting officers said.
According to the migrants, the job broker led them across the border on foot via a path in Mae Sot district of Tak. They were later taken to Songkhla, where they were picked up by the two vehicles that were stopped in Pattani.
The 15 migrants were charged with illegal entry and the drivers were charged with helping them avoid arrest.