Thai immigration officers arrested a 60-year-old Lao woman at the First Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge on 24 October under a Thai court warrant alleging human trafficking involving a minor, according to Nong Khai Immigration.
The woman, identified only as Pae, is from Pak Ngum District in Vientiane Capital. Officers detained her as she attempted to return to Laos after visiting her grandchild in Thailand.
The warrant accuses her of conspiring to commit human trafficking, jointly trafficking a person aged between 15 and 17, and jointly coercing another person through threats or force.
Allegations Involving a Minor
According to Nong Khai Immigration, Pae told officers she lived in Pattani Province in southern Thailand around 2012 with her daughter, who is married to a Thai man. She said she frequently traveled between Thailand and Laos.
Pae said four male neighbors from Laos later asked her to help them find work in Pattani. She helped them travel there, where all four took jobs on fishing boats. One of them was 15 years old, according to Thai authorities.
She told officers she tried to stop the teenager from working on a fishing boat and asked him to stay and help care for her grandchild, but he insisted on joining the fishing crew.
The immigration report does not explain why Lao authorities arrested her or clarify how that case related to the Thai charges.
Pae told Thai officers she was unaware of the Thai arrest warrant before her detention at the border.
Immigration authorities subsequently transferred her to Thailand’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division for further legal proceedings. The allegations have not been established in court.
