SONGKHLA: Twenty-nine illegal migrants from Myanmar crammed in a van and four members of a smuggling gang were arrested in Bang Klam district of this southern border province on Friday night.
Immigration police showed up for a search shortly after the white van bearing stickers of the Department of Highways arrived at a rubber plantation in Bang Klam around 8pm.
The arresting team found 29 Myanmar men crammed inside the vehicle, with seats in the middle removed leaving only front and back seats.
Four smugglers - three Thai men and one Myanmar man - were also arrested.
According to the arresting team, the van had transported the illegal migrants from a border area in Prachuap Khiri Khan to Bang Klam where another group of smugglers would pick them up to Narathiwat.
The stickers of the Department of Highways were used to mislead authorities that the vehicle belonged to the state agency.
After receiving information about the smuggling, the officers traced the van down to the rubber plantation.
The three Thai smugglers were identified only as Thaweep, 63, Prakasit, 62 and Naphat, 27.
During questioning, the three men told the officers that they had been hired for 3,000 baht per head to transport the migrants from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Bang Klam.
They admitted that the van did not belong to the Department of Highways.
The Myanmar smuggler, 29, told the officers that he was tasked with coordinating with another smuggling team to take the migrants to Narathiwat and had been hired for 300 baht per head.
All were handed over to Bang Klam police station for legal proceedings. The migrants were charged with illegal entry and would be sent back to their country.
