Authorities in Nong Khai, Thailand have arrested a woman from Laos who entered the country illegally to visit a rhinoplasty doctor.
According to report by Ammarin TV, Thai authorities in Nong Khai Province have arrested a 46-year-old Thai man and woman from Laos caught aboard a boat illegally crossing from Laos into Thailand.
The two were caught near the border in Phon Sa Subdistrict, Tha Bo District, Nong Khai District yesterday evening.
The 27-year-old Lao woman, identified as Ms. Sidavone, said she traveled to Thailand to have plastic surgery at a clinic in Udon Thani province. She admitted to hiring a boat from Phon Sa subdistrict of Thailand to pick her up on the Lao side of the Mekong River.
The boat owner, a Thai national, claimed to be fishing, according to the report by Ammarin TV.
On 2 December, Thai authorities arrested seven illegal immigrants from Laos in Nasinuan District, Moukdahan Province of Thailand, while a further three more women were arrested in Nong Khai on 8 December.
Many Lao laborers returned to Laos at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, after months of restrictions and record unemployment, many have begun risking illegal entry to search for work in Thailand once more.
