Thai authorities nab 28 illegal immigrants in Sa Kaeo

SA KAEO, April 2 (TNA) - Thai authorities Monday nabbed 28 illegal immigrants, as they were hiding in groves along the Thai-Cambodian border here. The Thai authorities, including Sa Kaeo immigration police and rangers from a special unit of the Burapa Task Force, arrested the illegal immigrants, who are all Cambodian nationals comprising six men, nine women and 13 children, following their joint patrol in Aranya Prathet district Monday morning. According to Captain Apinan Songkramchai and Police Lieutenant Colonel Benjapol Rodswasti, who led the joint patrol, the Cambodian illegal immigrants came from many Cambodian provinces and none of them had passport. Captain Apinan said that the Cambodian illegal immigrants had confessed they were waiting to be picked up and sent to work in Bangkok and Pattaya city in Thailand's eastern Chonburi province, acknowledging that the Thai authorities suspected the Cambodian adults would then force the children to be beggars during the upcoming traditional Thai New Year, known as Songkran Festival in mid-April. All the arrested Cambodians were later handed over to the Sa Kaeo Immigration Office for further questioning and action. (TNA)