Aranyaprathet: Rangers intercepted eight Thais while they were illegally crossing the border at Khlong Phrom Hot in Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province. They were hoping to work as administrators for a gambling website in Poipet, as the wages were high, at 22,000 baht per month.

According to Thai News Agency, Burapha Force, together with the Aranyaprathet Task Force and the 13th Ranger Regiment’s Control Unit (1304th Ranger Company), were hiding behind Wat Khok Sabang in Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province, after receiving a tip from a source that a group of people would attempt to illegally cross the border into Cambodia. Officials were later able to intercept a total of eight suspects, six men and two women, as they hurried on foot toward the banks of the Phrom Hot Canal to cross to the Cambodian side.

Preliminary investigations revealed that two of the eight suspects were the ones who led six Thais, all locals in Aranyaprathet District, who did not have passports, to illegally cross the border to work as administrators for online gambling websites in Poipet. They had previously been contacted through friends and individuals claiming to be HR representatives of several gambling websites, offering them a monthly salary of 18,000-22,000 baht to cross the border to work.

Ranger officers then detained all eight individuals and handed them over to investigators at Khlong Luek Police Station for prosecution on charges of illegal entry and exit from the Kingdom. They are preparing to expand their investigation to the network that brought them there and the online gambling website behind the incident.