Authorities in Ranong have apprehended a group of illegal Myanmar migrants on their way to work in Malaysia.
According to the Region 3 Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center, the 14 migrants, including three children under the age of 15, were discovered during a patrol in Muko Ranong National Park on Tuesday (8 Mar) by a team of navy officers and security officials.
The migrants told the officers that they had traveled from Myanmar’s Yangon, Irrawaddy, and Mawlamyine townships to look for work in Malaysia. They were previously taken to Ranong’s Koh Song or Song Island by Myanmar job brokers 10 days ago, before being ferried to a location within the national park.
The group had been waiting for the brokers to take them south and into Malaysia at the time of their arrest. Each migrant had paid 48,000 baht for the trip.
According to the officers, the group was tested for COVID-19 and sent to a quarantine facility at the 415th border patrol police station in Ranong’s capital region, where they will be confined for 14 days before being returned to their home country.
According to Adisorn Kerdmongkol, a representative of a migrant labor development network, 80,000 illegal migrants were apprehended in Thailand last year.
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has stated that all relevant agencies should step up efforts to register employees from neighboring countries so they can be lawfully employed in Thailand, where a labor shortage has stymied the nation’s economic recovery.
According to the Federation of Thai Industries, the Kingdom is currently in need of approximately 800,000 foreign laborers for the manufacturing, service, and tourism sectors.
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