SA KAEO – Cambodian migrant workers have been held up at the border in Sa Kaeo province, after failing to come back the same way they left before the Songkran holidays.
A total of 470 Cambodian migrants, as well as one Thai national suspected of people smuggling, were detained by army rangers and police officers in the border district of Wang Nam Yen.
Many of the migrants had worked in Thailand before the Songkran holidays and left for their hometowns, after the government waived border re-entry fees for workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.
However, the waiver applied to migrant workers with legal permits and required that the workers re-enter Thailand through the same border checkpoint that they had departed. It also required that the laborers return by April 30th.
The detained migrants apprehended while attempting to cross the border through the forests. They were led by Cambodian and Thai people smugglers, who deceived the migrants into paying 2,500 – 2,800 baht per person to cross into Thailand.
The Sa Kaeo Provincial Police will deport the group back to Cambodia, while continuing their investigation into the human traffickers responsible.
