A GROUP of 13 Vietnamese men and women who had sneaked across the border from Malaysia were arrested this afternoon (Dec. 16) at an abandoned house in Narathiwat province, Thai Rath newspaper reported.
Upon being alerted by Mr. Narong Awasimae, a village headman in Pase Mat sub-district, Su-ngai Kolok district, that some foreign workers were living in an abandoned house and he was fearful of Covid-19 spreading in his neighbourhood, a team of policemen and soldiers raided it.
Arrested were seven men and six women, all from Vietnam, and within the house that they had hidden in were some carry-on luggage and food scattered at various places.
They told the authorities that they escaped being arrested two days earlier when their seven fellow travellers were rounded up by police. They had hidden in the thick jungle and after the police had gone, came out and trekked a short while after which they found this abandoned house, and hid in it.
They added they had worked at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur and had paid a Malaysian guide to bring them to the border with a Thai guide to have taken them further on from there.
The authorities took all of them for a coronavirus test after which they will be quarantined for 14 days and then prosecuted according to the law.
CAPTION:
Some of the Vietnamese people arrested for illegally crossing the border today. Photos: Thai Rath
