More Lao Fishermen Arrested in Thailand After Entering Illegally on Way Home
More Lao fishermen have been arrested in southern Thailand for illegally entering the country as they tried to return home from Malaysia, where they had been working in the fishing industry for years, the fishermen and local officials said.
Like an earlier group arrested on Dec. 8, these Laotian fishermen said they had been stuck in Pahang state in eastern peninsular Malaysia after fishing work dried up in November.
Charter flights promised by their embassy in Kuala Lumpur were repeatedly postponed, and the Thai-Malaysia border was sealed due to COVID-19.
“[W]e arrested 20 Laotian workers and charged all of them with illegal entry. We will deport them to Laos,” Police Col. Chamrus Rungreung, a police chief in Su-ngai Kolok, Narathiwat, told reporters on Thursday.
According to another police official, as many as 53 Lao workers were in police custody.
BenarNews
