Thailand Post has fired a mail van driver who was caught transporting 13 illegal Myanmar immigrant workers to a Thai-Malaysian border in Songkhla province in the early hours of yesterday.
The driver, identified as Thanachai Mangthim, was immediately dismissed from work after an investigation confirmed the criminal offence, according to a statement released by the Thailand Post today, following the arrest of the driver.
Mr Thanachai, 30, a resident of Nakhon Pathom, was detained along with Phongphat Mocho, 29, from Prachuap Khiri Khan who was also in the same Thailand Post van.
They were arrested after a car chase carried out by a combined security force on Asian Highway No.41 in Rattaphum district of Songkhla, police said.
A preliminary police investigation found that the 13 Myanmar citizens had illegally entered Thailand through a border area in Kanchanaburi.
Their traffickers were paid 1,500 baht per Myanmar migrant worker each time they transported up a group, police said, adding that the Thailand Post driver had committed this offence many times over prior to his arrest.
The two suspects were being interrogated by police, while the 13 migrant workers were charged with illegal entry and would be deported, police said.
Prior to today’s crackdown, police had learned from informers in the same human trafficking network that a Thailand Post truck was being used for the transport of illegal migrant workers to make it easier to avoid the police’s attention, police said.
