SONGKHLA: Thirty illegal job seekers from Myanmar crammed in a pickup truck were arrested in Bang Klam district of this southern border province on Friday night.
Immigration police stopped two pickup trucks on a road in Bang Klam for a search.
The first vehicle with Chumphon licence plates was driven by a Thai man identified only as Thawatchai, 23. There were no passengers inside.
The second vehicle with Surin licence plates was driven by a Thai woman idenitified only as Somjit, 29. When the officers removed the tarpaulin from the back of the vehicle, they found 30 people crammed inside.
All were illegal migrants from Myanmar. The two drivers were job brokers.
While the officers were checking the two vehicles, a Myanmar man phoned Ms Somjit to tell her a place to drop the migrants. When the man arrived at the entrance of Chalung industrial estate in tambon Tha Chang of Bang Klam district, he was arrested.
During questioning, the two drivers said they had taken the Myanmar nationals from Prachuap Khiri Khan province to deliver to an area in Bang Klam, where another vehicle would be sent to pick them up to a border area near Malaysia.
Mr Thawatchai said he had been hired for 9,000 baht to drive the vehicle to inspect the route while Ms Somjit said she had been paid 3,000 baht.
The Myanmar job broker, Aung Kyaw Than, told police that he was tasked with taking the migrants to hide while awaiting another group of brokers to take them to a natural border crossing to enter Malaysia. He had been hired 2,000 baht for his job.
According to the arresting team, the migrants had paid 47,000 baht each to a gang of job brokers.
All were held in police custody for legal action.
