Three illegal foreign workers arrested on tourist islands

A police officer waits for a Canadian kitesurfing instructor to gather up his gear on a beach on Koh Phangan on Monday. He faces a charge of working illegally. (Photo: Assawin Pakkawan)

Police have arrested three foreigners — from Canada, Russia and Myanmar — on the southern tourist islands of Koh Phangan and Phuket for working illegally.

Canadian Gabriel Vachon, 46, was arrested on Monday afternoon at the Two Rocks hotel on Koh Phangan, where police seized kitesurfing equipment including a kite and a board worth about 200,000 baht.

He told police that he charged students 1,500 baht per hour for kitesurfing lessons but did not have the relevant licence.

At 8.20pm the same day, police arrested Russian Georgii Batalov, 33, at the Eywa Bar in the Panthip market on the island in Surat Thani province. He admitted he was operating the bar without a licence and was staying in the country on a tourist visa.

The previous day in Phuket, police arrested a 34-year-old woman from Myanmar in tambon Choeng Thale of Thalang district for illegally driving a private taxi. She was caught at a checkpoint on Sri Sunthon Road in front of the Choeng Thale police station at 8.40am.