Thai authorities round up over 100 Cambodian illegal immigrants

SA KAEO,THAILAND, June 12 (TNA) - Immigration police and paramilitary rangers here on Tuesday arrested 117 illegal Cambodian immigrants who were hiding in rooms near the Rong Klua Market close to the Thai-Cambodian border. The team of over 50 Thai immigration police officers and paramilitary rangers raided over 50 rooms behind the Det Thai Market near the Rong Klua Market in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district and found the illegal Cambodian immigrants comprising 59 men, 42 women, nine boys and seven girls, who did not carry any travel document. The Thai authorities also arrested two traffickers, identified as 32-year-old Theerawat Im-oi of Thailand and 54-year-old Wannee Fai of Cambodia. The Sa Kaeo's immigration police said, if not arrested, the Cambodians would be sent to work in inner Thai areas, including Bangkok, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chachoengsao, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya, with each of them paying the traffickers 2,500-3,000 baht for their travel. The Thai immigration police recorded the data of the illegal Cambodian immigrants, who were earlier led to sneak across the border into Sa Kaeo at night, and took their photographs before repatriating them. (TNA)