12 Cambodians arrested in raid on a village in Sa Kaeo province
They had been living and working without documentation for a year
Police in Sa Kaeo province on Friday investigated a small village in Khok Sung district of the eastern province and arrested 12 undocumented Cambodian nationals.
The operation is part of the government’s "Seal, Stop, Safe" campaign launched on January 30, sealing off 51 border districts across 14 provinces as a nationwide crackdown on drug trafficking and transnational crimes.
Officials had obtained intelligence that Cambodian migrants, who had entered Thailand illegally, had settled down in an area behind Ban Khlong Takian village in Nong Waeng subdistrict, Pol Colonel Thanawut Piaphong, chief of Khok Sung Police Station, said on Friday.
He said villagers had filed complaints that these Cambodians had been building huts and shelters without permits and earned their living by working as part-time labourers.
Police officers on Friday searched the small community consisting of several huts with no street address and arrested 12 Cambodian nationals, including five children, none of whom had immigration documents.
The suspects reportedly confessed to slipping into Thailand via natural channels from Cambodia and had settled down in this area for about one year. They had been earning their living by harvesting tapioca and cutting eucalyptus trees for local farmers.
The suspects were sent to Khok Sung Police Station to be charged with illegal entry and working without a work permit.
