PHATTHALUNG: Highway police arrested 71 illegal Myanmar migrants travelling in two vans that were stopped and searched in Muang district on Monday.
The two vans, a six-wheeler and a four-wheeler, were stopped by highway police after they sped through a checkpoint, raising suspicions.
Fifty migrants were found in the first van. They were accompanied by two Thai men, the driver and a guide.
Police found another 21 migrants in the second van, also with a Thai driver and guide.
The 71 migrants were handed over to Na Khayat police station in Muang district for legal proceedings, pending repatriation. The four Thais were charged with providing assistance to foreigners who had entered the country illegally.
Marut Permpongpipat, 31, the driver of the first van and from Ratchaburi, said he was hired and paid 4,000 baht to take his passengers from Prachuap Khiri Khan to Hat Yai district, Songkhla province.
