Ten Myanmar immigrants have been forced to abandon their plan to travel to Malaysia due to COVID-19 and ended up being arrested in Thailand while trying to return to their home country.
Police in Chumpon province intercepted the attempt to take the illegal immigrants to a town on the Myanmar border. They stopped a van carrying the 10 men aged 22-30 at a checkpoint around midnight on Thursday.
The Thai driver told police he was hired to take the migrant workers from the southern border province of Narathiwat to Bangkok.
The Myanmar nationals who carried fake passports said they tried to enter Malaysia via Thailand in February but they had been stranded at the border area due to the border closures and other restrictions in the wake of COVID-19.
After many months without income and constant threat of the fatal disease, they decided to return home, the men told police.
All of them were tested for the virus before being held pending prosecutions and deportations. (TNA)
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