Police apprehended 13 illegal Rohingya migrants left on a roadside in Chumphon province Wednesday, learning that the Malaysia-bound Muslims were being smuggled on a previously unknown route.
Highway police found 10 adults and three children aged 1-2 years close to Highway 41 in tambon Khun Krathing of Muang district early today.
A Rohingya man said through a translator that they came from Mottama town in Myanmar. A man there brought them to Kanchanaburi province where a Thai driver picked them up Tuesday night to smuggle them into Malaysia.
But last night the driver told them to get out of the vehicle and hide in the woods. Fearing he would not return for them, some group members went looking for the vehicle near the highway after dawn broke.
Pol Sub Lt Wasant Trato, a deputy highway inspector, said highway patrol police first saw two Rohingya men beside the highway before they ran away.
A chase led police to the group of exhausted migrants who had no travel documents. The discovery came about a kilometre from a police checkpoint, so it was assumed the people smugglers abandoned the aliens to avoid arrest, the inspector said.
Pol Capt Panuwat Chomyong, another deputy highway inspector, said police had already identified the group of Myanmar traffickers and learned that they changed their smuggling route from Ranong to Kanchanaburi province because of serious suppression efforts in Ranong.