May 27, 2009Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)
Police looking for illegal workers on 26 May 2009 raided a seafood factory in Sriracha and found over 250 illegal Cambodian immigrants working there. The illegal immigrants, without official documentation of any sort, will be processed and then repatriated.
At 9.00 am, on 26 May, Pol.Lt.Col. Pakkapong Sai U-bon, Police Immigration Investigator, and a team of other concerned officials from Bor Win, Nongkam, a total of 50 officials and 40 volunteer officials, raided the Asian Seafood (Sriracha) Company, located at 211 Moo. 2 Bung, Sriracha, Chonburi, which had been hiring illegal workers from Cambodia for over 2 years, according to complaints received by the police from neighbours.
The police had blocked the factory gates late the previous night. On the following morning, police brought a search warrant from the Pattaya Court and proceeded to search the factory, after having presented the factory manager, Mr. Wanlop Lomlim, with the search warrant. He later conducted the police around the factory.
The illegal Cambodian workers were shocked at the raid and tried to escape by climbing the wall, but the police managed to arrest 126 males and 128 females and took them for investigation onto the empty ground along the side of the factory.
Police asked for their work permits, but none of the workers possessed any form of official documentation, whatsoever. Police then informed them that they would be charged with illegal entry into Thailand and with working in the country without work permits or licences.
The Asian Seafood company is run by Mr. Somsak Amornrattanachaikul , the owner, who will be investigated further and charged with hiring illegal-immigrant workers without correct documentation and also providing accommodation for them.
Police have a total of 253 illegal workers under arrest, who were later sent to Nongkam Police Station for further investigation and processing.
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Editor Notes:
There are numerous cases like this in many factories and construction sites in Thailand, where the Thai employers have cheated their illegal workers by withholding their wages for three months and instead of paying them, they or their agents just tipped off the police, who then came to arrest them. In these cases, the Thai employers profit by saving the wages of their illegal workers and only pay small sums to the police.
However, due to the often dire conditions in their own countries, many poor workers would still rather take the risk of working illegally in Thailand, than remain penniless in their own countries.
At 9.00 am, on 26 May, Pol.Lt.Col. Pakkapong Sai U-bon, Police Immigration Investigator, and a team of other concerned officials from Bor Win, Nongkam, a total of 50 officials and 40 volunteer officials, raided the Asian Seafood (Sriracha) Company, located at 211 Moo. 2 Bung, Sriracha, Chonburi, which had been hiring illegal workers from Cambodia for over 2 years, according to complaints received by the police from neighbours.
The police had blocked the factory gates late the previous night. On the following morning, police brought a search warrant from the Pattaya Court and proceeded to search the factory, after having presented the factory manager, Mr. Wanlop Lomlim, with the search warrant. He later conducted the police around the factory.
The illegal Cambodian workers were shocked at the raid and tried to escape by climbing the wall, but the police managed to arrest 126 males and 128 females and took them for investigation onto the empty ground along the side of the factory.
Police asked for their work permits, but none of the workers possessed any form of official documentation, whatsoever. Police then informed them that they would be charged with illegal entry into Thailand and with working in the country without work permits or licences.
The Asian Seafood company is run by Mr. Somsak Amornrattanachaikul , the owner, who will be investigated further and charged with hiring illegal-immigrant workers without correct documentation and also providing accommodation for them.
Police have a total of 253 illegal workers under arrest, who were later sent to Nongkam Police Station for further investigation and processing.
-----------
Editor Notes:
There are numerous cases like this in many factories and construction sites in Thailand, where the Thai employers have cheated their illegal workers by withholding their wages for three months and instead of paying them, they or their agents just tipped off the police, who then came to arrest them. In these cases, the Thai employers profit by saving the wages of their illegal workers and only pay small sums to the police.
However, due to the often dire conditions in their own countries, many poor workers would still rather take the risk of working illegally in Thailand, than remain penniless in their own countries.
