Thirty illegal migrants from Laos were caught traveling to Bangkok from Salavanh Province, Laos.
According to a report in The Nation, the Thai Navy’s Mekong Riverine Unit in Ubon Ratchathani province found 30 illegal immigrants from Laos on a bus traveling to Bangkok.
The group of illegal immigrants included nine men and 17 women, traveling with four infants. None of the group could produce proper documentation and confessed that they came from Vapy District in Salavan Province of Laos. They said they were hoping to find jobs in Bangkok.
The group had paid 5,000 baht, or around LAK 1,450,000, to an agency based in Laos who arranged a bus trip, promising to take them to Bangkok after crossing the Mekong River.
According to the report, Police Colonel Sarot Rodmanee, chief of Khemarat Police Station, said that the bus was stopped for a routine check on Khemarat-Khong Jiam Road near the Lao-Thai border.
The immigrants have been charged with illegally entering the country, while the agency that arranged transport is being investigated.
Last month a 61-year-old man from Laos died suddenly in Udon Thani, originally suspected to have died of Covid-19.
Laboratory tests revealed by the Governor of Udon Thani province showed that the man had tested negative for the Covid-19 virus, and had likely died of tuberculosis.
The deceased and his wife had entered Thailand illegally some weeks earlier to visit their daughter.
