Police have discovered 106 illegal migrants crammed into a truck in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province near Bang Saphan, the driver was nowhere to be found.
A concerned forklift driver rang officers at Bang Saphan Police Station to say that he believed that a “suspicious” vehicle parked on the side of Phetchakasem Road was carrying illegal immigrants.
The forklift driver told the police that he had been contacted by the truck’s driver, who told him that the truck had encountered a problem and needed to be lifted and taken to Lang Suan district in Chumphon province.
The forklift driver arrived at the scene and was preparing to lift the truck when he heard people’s voices. He called Bang Saphan Police Station right away. However, before the police arrived, the truck driver fled the scene.
Police arrived to find a six-wheel truck but without the driver. A sticker on the back of the truck said “Music Home Instruments.” They opened the back doors to find 106 Burmese and Rohingya people in the hot, unventilated truck. There were 75 males and 31 females, including 21 children under 15 years old who were fortunate to have been found before a potentially tragic outcome.
All of the migrants were taken to Bang Saphan Police Station and then to Prachuap Khiri Khan Immigration Office to coordinate their return home. Police were told that they had entered Thailand via the border with Myanmar in Tak province. A trafficker in Myanmar arranged to have the Thai truck driver drive them through Thailand and into Malaysia, where they planned to work.
Source: The Thaiger
