Illegal labourers nabbed in Thai North, migrant workers' villages to be opened

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND, June 11 (TNA) - Thailand has cracked down illegal labourers and planned to open villages for migrant workers, beginning with those in Bangkok's neighbouring Samut Sakhon Province and Ranong Province in the Thai South. A combined security force of soldiers and police arrested over 30 illegal workers in the Oun Aree Community in the northern Chiang Mai Province on Wednesday, including illegal immigrants and those from local highlands who sneaked out of controlled areas to work in local construction sites, restaurants and others. Some of those apprehended were also found to be drug addicts. Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Labour's Department of Employment has planned to open villages for migrant workers. The department's director-general, Prawit Kiangphon, told journalists that the plan is in accordance with the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)'s policy, aimed to effectively solve problems relating to migrant workers in Thailand, including employment agents' scams and health issues of migrant workers. Under the plan, Prawit said, his department, in cooperation with other concerned parties, will bring together migrant workers from several communities in same provinces and appoint a community leader for each village who will take care of their villagers based on official policies and orders. According to the senior Thai official, migrant villages will be first opened, as pilot projects, in Samut Sakhon and Ranong Provinces, where there are a large number of migrant workers, most of whom are from neighbouring Myanmar. (TNA)