34 Thais try to sneak home on bikes via rat trails

Two groups of Thais tried to return home via rat trails to avoid the border checkpoints.

SONGKHLA: Thai authorities have detained 34 Thai nationals, including six children, who tried to avoid undergoing health screening at the Malaysian-Thai border by riding motorcycles through rat trails

In two separate raids, 29 Thais including six children on 15 motorcycles were apprehended in the jungle at Saba Yoi, Songkhla, near the border, and four women and a man arrested and three motorcycles seized in the jungle near Na Thawi, Songkhla.

Saba Yoi assistant district officer, Ridthachart Thasajajun said all of them were believed to be from the same group.

“They tried to smuggle themselves into Thailand as they did not want to go through health screening at the border checkpoint. Now they have to undergo 14-day quarantine and fined for entering the country illegally,” he said.

Thailand closed all nine border checkpoints with Malaysia since March 23, as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection.

However five border checkpoints have been reopened to enable citizens stranded in Malaysia to return home in stages. Only 350 people are allowed to enter Thailand daily. - FMT