A regional army commander, Lt General Kriangkrai Srirak, said the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia and the implementation of movement restrictions had caused migrants to attempt to return home.
Since October and up to Jan 22, security forces had arrested 624 migrants comprising citizens of Myanmar (408), Laos (76), Cambodia (64) and Malaysia (21) who attempted to enter Thailand via rat trails at the border areas.
“The authorities will tighten border control especially in the districts of Tak Bai, Sungai Kolok and Wang. We will collaborate with all relevant parties to prevent migrant smuggling and at the same time, intensifying efforts to track down the syndicates involved,” he said in a news conference here, today.
Kriangkrai said a total of 13 arrests were made in Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
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