PATTANI - Twenty-nine illegal migrants from Myanmar were found crammed inside an enclosed box in the bed of a pickup truck at a road checkpoint in Sai Buri district of this southern province on Saturday.
The migrants, who were en route to Malaysia where they hoped to find work, were arrested along with the Thai driver of the truck.
Police gave chase to the pickup with Bangkok licence plates on Saturday after receiving information that a vehicle suspected of being used for people smuggling was travelling on Highway 42 between Pattani and Narathiwat.
After the pickup driver accelerated, officers contacted highway police in tambon Torbon of Sai Buri district to set up a checkpoint to intercept the vehicle.
Highway police manning the checkpoint managed to stop the pickup truck for a search. When they opened the door of the box in the bed of the truck, they found 21 men and 8 women inside.
Driver Muhammad Fitdao Binyainee, 27, a native of Phatthalung province, was arrested along with the migrants.
During questioning, the driver told police that he picked up the migrants in Hat Yai and was on the way to tambon Pukorta in Waeng district of Narathiwat. He said he had been paid 1,500 baht per head by a Thai broker identified only as Nobin from Yala to transport the migrants to the southernmost border province.
The 29 Myanmar nationals said they had contacted a job broker in Malaysia, who in turn contacted a Thai broker to help them while in Thailand. They had entered Thailand illegally and travelled for three days and were on the way to their last stop at the border in Narathiwat when they were stopped.
All the Myanmar nationals and the Thai driver were being held in police custody for legal action.
Highway police talk to the Thai driver of a box pickup truck used to smuggle migrants in Sai Buri district of Pattani on Saturday morning. (Photo: Abdullah Benjakat)