CHUMPON, July 16 (TNA) – Ten Myanmar immigrants have been
forced to abandon their plan to travel to Malaysia due to COVID-19 and ended up
being arrested in Thailand while trying to return to their home country.
Police in Chumpon province intercepted the attempt to take
the illegal immigrants to a town on the Myanmar border. They stopped a van carrying the 10 men aged
22-30 at a checkpoint around midnight on Thursday.
The Thai driver told police he was hired to take the migrant
workers from the southern border province of Narathiwat to Bangkok.
The Myanmar nationals who carried fake passports said they
tried to enter Malaysia via Thailand in February but they had been stranded at
the border area due to the border closures and other restrictions in the wake
of COVID-19.
After many months without income and constant threat of the
fatal disease, they decided to return home, the men told police.
All of them were tested for the virus before being held
pending prosecutions and deportations. (TNA)
