Eleven migrant workers at risk in a Kanchanaburi forest

April 1, 2009

WCRP: On March 23, 2009, eleven Burmese illegal migrant workers entered Thailand, accompanied by an agent, at Three Pagoda Pass. The group, which included an eleven year old girl, eight women and two men, were subsequently at risk in a Kanchanaburi forest where they fled in order to avoid arrest by the Thai police.

According to Nai Aye, a relative of one of the workers, who heard about the incident from the agent, “there were forty Burmese illegal migrant workers in two vans accompanied by the local agent, Nai Htay, aged 40, from Three Pagoda Pass to Thailand. When they arrived at Kanchanaburi check point, the police didn’t see the first van and they only stopped the second one for checking which included Nai Htay and eleven workers. The police didn’t check carefully and allowed the van to go but after it left they became suspicious and two policemen followed the van by car.

“Nai Htay didn’t allow the driver to stop the van and he wanted the driver to keep driving even when the police tried to stop them. So the two vehicles crashed into each other and two policemen were knocked unconscious on the spot. Nai Htay let the workers run away and they ran into the forest. There were only Nai Htay and the driver left there. Actually, the police didn’t know he carried Burmese illegal migrant workers. So, when the two policemen regained consciousness, they arrested him and the driver and accused them of crashing into their car. The driver said that they didn’t intend to crash but their brakes had failed. So, a Thai friend of the agent paid bail for them at the police station and got them out.”

Three days after the incident occurred Nai Htay told (Nai Aye not his really name) that he had contacted the eleven workers and that in two days he would go and pick them up and send them to Surat Thani district where they had relatives. So, for five days the eleven workers had to hide in the forest and faced serious problems without food or security. However, on March28th, all of them were rescued by Nai Htay and taken to safety.

All of them had agreed to pay sixteen thousand baht each for transportation from their homes to the place where they would work in Thailand.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News