SA KAEW — 13 January 2026, Thai security forces have arrested 16 Myanmar nationals who were attempting to cross the border into Cambodia illegally, police said.
The arrests were made during a joint patrol by the Burapha Task Force, an army ranger unit and Khlong Nam Sai police in Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province. Officers spotted a group of people walking along a farm track in Nong Prue village and moved in to inspect them.
All 16 were found to be men from Myanmar’s Mandalay region and were unable to produce passports or travel documents, authorities said.
During questioning, the migrants told officers they had been persuaded by friends to apply for work advertised on Facebook as cleaning staff, with a promised salary of US$500 a month. They said they had contacted a Facebook administrator, after which a Thai man and a Myanmar man drove them to the area in a black pickup truck to arrange their onward crossing see into Cambodia.
Each migrant paid 12,000 baht for the journey, police said. No escorts or smugglers were found at the scene at the time of the arrest.
The group was handed over to Khlong Nam Sai police for legal proceedings.