The arrest was announced by Immigration Bureau Deputy Commander Maj Gen Pornchai Khuntee at a press conference in Bangkok today (Oct 25) with a host of high-ranking Immigration officials present.
The 24-year-old woman, who Immigration today named only as “Ms Kimhang”, was arrested at the Sa Kaew border crossing to Cambodia at 2:30pm on Oct 20, said Gen Pornchai.
She was wanted on arrest warrant No. 98/ 2019 issued by the Phuket Provincial Court April 18, he said.
Kimhang has been charged with trafficking youths under 15 years old, causing bodily harm, and hiring youths under 15 years of age as employees.
Ms Kimhang was one of four people wanted human trafficking in Patong, Gen Pornchai said.
The four tricked Cambodian boys 13 to 16 years old to sell flowers and sunglasses in Patong. Kimhang was responsible for picking up the boys at different places in Patong and keeping lookout for police, he said.
The boys worked from 8am to 9pm every day and were kept at a rented house on Rath-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd in Patong. If the boys could make the target of about B2,000-3,000 per day, they would be beaten with a clothes hanger, he added.
In January last year, two mothers of trafficked boys came to Patong and informed Phuket Immigration officers of the operation, Gen Pornchai explained.
“Those four traffickers fled, and so immigration officers filed a request to Phuket Provincial Court for an arrest warrant.
“As a result of their investigation, police knew that Ms Kimhang was still staying in Thailand and she later tried to flee the country through the Sa Kaew checkpoint,” Gen Pornchai said.
“Phuket Immigration officers informed Sa Kaew Immigration to arrest Ms Kimhang and send her to Patong Police Station for prosecution,” Gen Pornchai added.
Immigration officers are continuing to search for the other three suspects, he said.