29 Thais arrested, quarantined after crossing border illegally from Malaysia
Twenty-nine Thais in Malaysia sneaked back into Thailand on foot via a route in the forest with help from Malaysian soldiers.
Surin Palare, a Democrat Party representative in Songkhla province said on Sunday (May 10) that they all were arrested after arriving in the province.
There were 22 adults and six children. All of them worked in rubber tree plantations in Malaysia and the employer forbade them to return.
They said that they lived in a rural area where aid packages rarely came and they had to wait until May 22 before they could register to return to Thailand.
Therefore, they decided to hire someone to guide them through the woods but their guide abandoned them.
The returnees were stranded in the woods for two days before Malaysian soldiers found them and had some pity so they gave them some food and showed them a route to follow.
The police fined them for illegally entering Thailand but they had no money so Surin paid for them.
They are now in quarantine as some of them have high body temperature.