Four Thais apprehended in Cambodia

SA KAEO, March 26 (TNA) - Four Thai nationals have been arrested and detained in neighbouring Cambodia on charges of illegal entry, as Thai immigration police in the eastern Sa Kaeo Province announced on Monday that they are coordinating with their Cambodian counterparts to urgently assist the four Thai people. Sa Kaeo's immigration police deputy commander Police Lieutenant Colonel Banjapol Rodsawad told journalists that he has been reported by the Thai-Cambodian Coordination Office in Aranyaprathet District, citing information provided by Cambodian officials in Poipet, that the four Thai citizens were apprehended last Saturday night by Cambodian troops in Banteay Meancheay Province, some nine kilometres from the Ta Phraya border pass in Sa Kaeo. According to the Ta Phraya police, the four Thai nationals were identified as 42-year-old Saran Parnphet, 42-year-old Suriya Parnphet who is Saran's wife, 24-year-old Bai Sodajan and 24-year-old Wanwisa Sodachan who is Bai's wife. The authorities said that the four Thais were travelling in two pick-up trucks for a mineral exploration when they were intercepted by the Cambodian soldiers and were then sent to a military base in Banteay Meancheay for interrogation and further legal action. Two other Thai nationals, political activists Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipattanapaiboon , have, meanwhile, served their jail terms in a Cambodian prison, after the were arrested and charged with illegal entry and espionage. (TNA)