Sa Kaeo — The Burapha Task Force arrested 14 Thais caught walking illegally into the country through a natural border crossing. They claimed they were deceived into opening mule accounts in Poipet, Cambodia, and after the accounts became useless, were abandoned at the border as "dead shell accounts." The victims were left to return on foot.
At 05:00 on 8 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Colonel Chainarong Kasee, Commander of the Aranyaprathet Task Force, Burapha Task Force, together with Colonel Pongsakorn Suang-ngam, Commander of Ranger Control Unit 12, led personnel from Ranger Company 1204 and the Aranyaprathet Task Force Scout Unit to intercept 14 Thais (5 men, 9 women) walking illegally across the border from Cambodia into Thailand via a natural route through a sugarcane field between checkpoints 53 and 54 in Ban Non Phatthana, Moo 13, Phan Suek Subdistrict, Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province, about 500 meters from the border.
No passports or border-crossing documents were found. They claimed they were deceived by call center gangs into opening mule accounts in Poipet, Cambodia. When the accounts became useless, they were abandoned near the border and forced to walk back into Thailand through natural routes without any guides. Authorities detained all of them for questioning at Ranger Company 1204, Phan Suek Subdistrict, Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province.
Initial questioning revealed that all 14 Thais said they found job postings on Facebook advertising good pay. They traveled to Sa Kaeo and were smuggled across the border to Poipet, Cambodia, between 3-4 March 2026 GMT+7. Upon arrival in Poipet, they were detained in a building, had their identity documents, phones, and SIM cards confiscated, and were forced to open online bank accounts. Their faces were scanned to perform online transactions. When the accounts were frozen, they were taken back to Thailand by being abandoned at the Cambodian border and made to walk illegally back through natural routes without paying any fees for the crossing.
The military unit then handed over all 14 detainees to investigators at Khlong Nam Sai Police Station, Sa Kaeo Province, for background checks and legal processing.