SA KAEO — 14 May 2026, Thai authorities arrested 16 people, consisting of Thai, Shan, and Vietnamese nationals, attempting to cross illegally into Thailand from Cambodia after a crackdown on online scam and gambling operations in Poipet, officials said on Thursday.
At 5:30, troops from the Burapha Task Force, the Aranyaprathet Special Task Force, and the 12th Ranger Forces Regiment, in coordination with Sa Kaeo intercepted the group near the border village of Ban Phu Nam Kliang in Pa Rai sub-district, Aranyaprathet district, after receiving reports of illegal border crossings through natural routes.
Officers later discovered a group of suspicious individuals walking across the border and moved in to surround and arrest them. A total of 16 detainees included four Thai nationals, two Vietnamese nationals, and 10 ethnic Shan migrants from Myanmar, all of whom lacked valid travel documents.
During questioning, the four Thais admitted they had been recruited through friends and acquaintances to work for the online gambling website, “UFABET168”, in Poipet. They said they were lured by monthly salaries of between 15,000 and 25,000 baht. Some had previously worked as delivery riders, warehouse employees, sales staff, and factory workers, before crossing the border more than a year ago to take the jobs.
Regarding rising tensions along the Thai-Cambodian border, this had led to the closure of several checkpoints, leaving them stranded in accommodation in Poipet for weeks and unable to return home. To return home, they reportedly paid a Cambodian broker 8,000 baht each to be transported to a natural border crossing. The broker allegedly transported them in a Cambodian-registered car before instructing them to continue on foot into Thailand.
Meanwhile, the 10 ethnic Shan migrants said they had travelled from Siem Reap to Poipet with the assistance of Chinese financiers to work as security guards in a building operated by a Chinese business group. However, after Cambodian authorities launched a crackdown on call center gangs, scammers, and online crime syndicates, their employer suspended operations, prompting them to attempt to enter Thailand illegally in order to return to their home country.
All suspects have been handed over to investigators for legal proceedings while officials expand the investigation into human smuggling brokers, illegal border crossing networks, and financial links tied to transnational online gambling businesses.
