Sa Kaeo — Ranger officers arrested two Cambodian migrant workers who illegally entered the country, escaping starvation and unemployment in their homeland, hoping to find work in Thailand.
At 4:00 a.m. on 19 Jul 2016, the Burapha Task Force, via Khok Sung Task Force and Ranger Company 12, ordered Police Colonel Asawin Saothong, Chief of Ranger Company 12, to lead personnel from Ranger Company 1205 to patrol and prevent illegal border crossings in Non Mak Mun Subdistrict, Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province, an area prone to illegal entry.
Officials later spotted two suspicious individuals, a man and a woman, walking on foot through the dark, illegally crossing the natural border from Cambodia into Thailand near checkpoints Jor Tor Sor 38-39 at Ban Non Mak Mun, Non Mak Mun Subdistrict, Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province. They detained the couple, who had no entry permits, and brought them to Ranger Company 1205 headquarters for questioning.
During questioning, Mr. Lam Liap, 20, and Mrs. Cheung Chai Mai, 21, a Cambodian couple, admitted they illegally entered Thailand to work tapping rubber in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. They explained that they were unemployed and starving in Cambodia. Previously, they had worked tapping rubber in Nakhon Ratchasima but had returned to Cambodia after border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. After a year without work or income, they illegally re-entered Thailand hoping to resume their former jobs.
Authorities then handed the couple over to Khok Sung Police for legal action as per the law.