Ranong Immigration chief, Col Verayot Kaarunayadhorn said 80% of those arrested wanted to travel and work illegally in Malaysia.

“Thailand was just a transit point as most of them sought employment in Malaysia. The others planned to go to Phuket and Samut Sakhon (in Thailand) to find jobs,” he told Bernama when contacted, here, today.

The authorities did not find any ethnic Rohingya in the group, although some of the mostly non-Muslim Myanmar citizens arrested came from Rakhine State, he said.

According to Verayot, the illegal immigrants were charged between US$375 to US$500 by human traffickers who promised to bring them to Malaysia.

“Some of them had already paid the fee, while some would pay the traffickers later,” he said, adding that the authorities also nabbed two local men, aged 25 and 43, on suspicion of providing shelter to the foreign nationals.

The two men were also suspected of acting as drivers for the Myanmar migrants.