Myanmar Nationals Caught Sneaking Into Thailand From Malaysia

NARATHIWAT (Thailand), March 4 (Bernama) -- Thai authorities Wednesday detained 45 Myanmar nationals trespassing into the country via a rat route on the Thailand-Malaysia border. Sungai Kolok chief district officer Rungruang Thimabut said all Myanmar nationals, including four women, aged between 20 and 40, were detained at about 6 am (local time) Wednesday. "All of them were arrested while crossing the river in the Sungai Kolok district in Narathiwat," he said at a press conference here. Ruangruang said initial investigations found that all of those arrested worked in restaurants and factories in Malaysia. “We found that they were brought in by a Malaysian skipper (tekong darat) before being abandoned at the Malaysia-Thailand border and later, a Thai skipper would bring them into Myanmar,” he said. All of them have completed the health screening and will undergo mandatory quarantine before being sent back to Myanmar. -- BERNAMA