Police arrested a boxing camp manager and ten undocumented migrants in Prachin Buri today, August 18, after a pickup truck carrying the group allegedly fled a police stop and ended up stranded on a village road.
The driver, identified as 42 year old Wichan, was arrested with nine Bangladeshi nationals and one Myanmar national in Wang Tha Chang subdistrict, Kabin Buri district. Police also seized the white Isuzu pickup truck used to transport the group.
Police said they spotted the pickup while patrolling Highway 359 close to the Sa Kaeo provincial border. The route is reportedly used to transport undocumented migrants entering Thailand from Cambodia.
Officers became suspicious after seeing the pickup travelling at speed with numerous bags in the back and signalled for the driver to stop. Police said the driver instead accelerated away, prompting officers to call for assistance.
The pickup entered a village road in Wang Tha Chang, an area surrounded largely by farmland, before losing control and coming to a stop on the roadside. The driver and nine migrants then allegedly left the vehicle and fled into a nearby plantation.
Police sought help from local officials to search for the group. All of them were caught after more than three hours.
During questioning, Wichan said he managed a boxing camp in Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo, and had been transporting migrants for around three months.
He told police that a man he knew only as Na hired him to make the trips for 5,000 baht each. Wichan said he took the work to help cover expenses at his boxing camp.
According to his account, he picked up the migrants near the border in Aranyaprathet and was taking them to a bus terminal in Bangkok.
The migrants told police they had been working in construction in Cambodia and wanted to reach the Bangladeshi embassy in Thailand so they could arrange their return home.
Police transferred the group to Wang Takhian Police Station for legal proceedings and said the investigation would continue to identify others involved.
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