KANCHANABURI — A total of 116 Myanmar nationals, mostly young men and women, were arrested after hiding on an island in the middle of the waters of Vajiralongkorn Dam in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi province.
Many of them admitted that they had fled conscription in Myanmar and paid 18,000–20,000 baht per person to intermediaries in the hope of finding work in the interior provinces of Thailand or Malaysia.
According to reports, around 5:30 p.m. on February 18, Pol. Col. Phaitoon Sriwilai, Superintendent of Sangkhla Buri Police Station, received a tip-off that a large number of undocumented migrants were hiding on an island about 300 meters from the mainland in Moo 2, Nong Loo Subdistrict, Sangkhla Buri District. He immediately coordinated with local police, Surasi Task Force military personnel and administrative officials to inspect the site.
On arrival, the officials found more than a hundred Myanmar nationals sitting and waiting on the island. Due to the 300 meter high water barrier, Pol. Col. Phaitoon Sriwilai enlisted the help of local boat operators, who normally serve tourists, to take the migrants back to the mainland. The operation took a long time as all 116 peoplechad to be carefully transferred.
The investigation revealed that the group consisted of 72 men, 44 women and 2 children. One of the arrested migrants, who could speak Thai, stated that they came from Phaya Thongsu in Myanmar before entering Thailand illegally through the natural border routes.
Upon arrival, they were told to wait in a forest next to a road. Facilitators soon organized vehicles to pick them up and take them to a jetty behind a temple, where they boarded a boat to their island hideout. The boat ride took about 20 minutes, but some of them had already been hiding on the island for two to three days and received only one meal a day from the facilitators.
One striking observation the officers made was that each migrant had a colored plastic string tied around their wrist. When asked, the migrants explained that this was a system used by the intermediaries to indicate their work destination. For example: the red string indicates Samut Sakhon as the destination, while the green string stands for Samut Prakan.
The arrested migrants said they planned to work in central Thailand provinces including Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani and Bangkok, and some even planned to cross to Malaysia. Each person paid between 18,000 and 20,000 baht ($530-590) to Myanmar brokers, with the price varying depending on the distance traveled.
The main reason for the migrants fleeing to Thailand and Malaysia was to escape military conscription in Myanmar. Myanmar’s military government recently enforced a strict conscription law that requires men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve in the military for two years with no exemptions. Many young people who do not want to be conscripted have chosen to flee the country instead.
After they confessed to the illegal entry, Thai authorities took the migrants by trucks and pickups to the Sangkhla Buri police station to initiate legal action. They were charged with illegally entering the Kingdom without permission under Thailand’s Immigration Act
Once the legal proceedings are completed, they will be handed over to the Immigration Police for deportation back to Myanmar. Due to the large number of detainees, transportation to the authorities lasted late into the night.
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