KANCHANABURI: Ten Myanmar job seekers were arrested in Sai Yok district on Tuesday night for illegal entry, police said.
About 11pm, a military-police patrol found the seven men and three women hiding in forest near Moo 4 village in tambon Si Mongkhon.
All were from Dawei township in Myanmar and said they paid 18,000 baht each to Myanmar brokers for work in Samut Sakhon. After crossing the border, they hid in the forest waiting for transport to take them to their jobs.
They were handed over to police for legal action.
Police said from Oct 18-25, a total of 457 Myanmar job seekers, 251 men and 206 women, were arrested after crossing the border into Kanchanaburi. Five guides, four Thai ands one Myanmar national, were also arrested.
With job seekers continuing to enter illegally in growing numbers, governor Jirakiat Phumsawat has ordered stepped up patrols along the province's 371 kilometre frontier to keep them out.
The mountainous border is officially closed to most traffic, but the province has 43 unofficial, natural crossing points - in Muang, Dan Makham Tia, Sai Yok, Thong Pha Phum and Sangkhla Buri districts. Illegal job seekers make frequent use of them.
