KANCHANABURI — Highway police and provincial administration officers intercepted a six-wheeled truck packed with 108 undocumented Myanmar workers on the road to Khao Meng Amonmae Temple in Moo 13, Pak Phraek subdistrict, Muang district, Kanchanaburi Province, just before it could enter the motorway M81.
Officers arrested the driver, Mr. Oat (no surname), a Karen man from Moo 8, Ban Song Karia, Nong Lu subdistrict, Sangkhla Buri district. When police opened the rear doors, they were stunned to find 70 men and 38 women crammed inside, some standing, others sitting in the packed vehicle.
The Operation
All detainees were brought to the Kamnan-Village Headman Assembly Hall in the city center for questioning, where Deputy Governor Wuttipong Suphakvanich personally conducted interviews.
Oat confessed he was hired for 7,000 baht ($215) to drive the truck from Lin Thin subdistrict, Thong Pha Phum district, to the forest edge at Ban Khao Meng. This was his third time performing such work.
The Smuggling Route
Through interpreters, the workers revealed they crossed the border near Ban Phra Chedi Sam Ong, Moo 9, Nong Lu subdistrict, bypassing checkpoints at night. They boarded boats at the “Three Rocks” pier, traveled along the Song Kalia River into Vajiralongkorn Dam reservoir, and disembarked at Ban Tha Phae pier, Moo 1, Tha Khanun subdistrict, Thong Pha Phum district.
Pickup trucks then shuttled them to the six-wheeler, which Mr. Oat drove to a waiting point at Ban Khao Meng before heading to their final destinations in Samut Songkhram and Samut Sakhon provinces. Some planned to continue on to Malaysia.
Each worker paid smugglers 20,000-30,000 baht ($610-915) for the journey.
Police have transferred all detainees to Muang Kanchanaburi Police Station for legal proceedings and are investigating the truck’s ownership to identify those behind the operation.
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