Arakan News Agency
Immigration officials and police in Thailand apprehended 27 Rohingya refugees as they were being smuggled to Malaysia, according to reports in the Thai media.
The truck driver and his son who were in charge of the vehicle was taken to custody.
There were three women and a children, among the 27 refugees intercepted.
Media reports say the police stopped the truck at a road checkpoint in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district after receiving a tip-off.
One of the Rohingya said they were being sneaked across the border from Myanmar via Tak’s Mae Sot district. He said each Rohingya paid a broker Bt15,000 (almost 35,000 Bangladesh Taka) to hire a smuggling gang to take them to Malaysia.
They were supposed to be smuggled across a river to Malaysia at the border and hid in Kelantan, Malaysia while waiting for a Malaysian broker to distribute them to Malaysian employers.
