Thai border authorities on alert against illegal immigrants

BANGKOK, January 30 (TNA) - Thai border authorities have now been on alert against illegal immigrants, as more than 300 of them have been arrested in the southern Ranong province alone since early this year. Colonel Uthit Anantananont, a deputy commander of the Thep Satree Task Force, in his capacity as the Vice Chair of the Thai-Myanmar Township Border Committee (TBC) in Ranong, told reporters of the development on Tuesday, saying that the Thai side has coordinated with the Thai-Myanmar Border Coordination Centre Against Human Trafficking in Myanmar's Kawthaung province, opposite Ranong, to detect and crack down cross-border human trafficking networks, whose victims include illegal immigrants. The deputy commander acknowledged that the coordinated measures have been intensified after the Thai government's new wage hike of 300 baht a day nationwide takes effect on January 1, 2013. According to the deputy commander, Thai border authorities have intercepted a total of 307 victims of cross-border human traffickers, seized 15 pickup trucks and one long-tailed boat, the highest arrested number over the past several years. (TNA)