By Thai Newsroom Reporters
FIVE LAOTIANS were yesterday arrested in Nakhon Phanom on charges of illegal entry into Thai territory, an immigration official said today (June 9, 2020)
The four males and one female from Laos illegally slipped across Mekong River into the northeastern province and were allegedly trafficked on the road to a fruit plantation in the eastern province of Chanthaburi where they have been hired as undocumented workers earlier this year, the official said.
The Thai navy’s Mekong Riverine Unit arrested the five Laotians while in a pickup truck parked near the bank of the international river in Nakhon Phanom waiting for a boat to take them back home in Laos.
The boat was heading for the Thai side of the river when the driver apparently spotted a navy patrol boat and quickly turned back to the Lao side, leaving behind the fellow countrymen.
The Thai male who drove the pickup truck carrying the Laotians was arrested on charge of trafficking the illegal aliens.
CAPTION:
Top: Sunset at Mekong river with this picture taken at Thakhek, Laos, and Nakhom Phanom, Thailand, across the river. Photo: Prince Roy (CC BY 2.0)
