Police have launched an investigation into a private parking service in the Thai border province of Sa Kaeo, following reports that it has secret channels through which people are smuggled into Cambodia.
According to police, this business collects fees for facilitating the operation and that the Thais who use the service travel to Cambodia to work in scam call centres or casinos.
On Friday, police raided a fenced parking service compound in Aranyaprathet district, located close to a canal.
At the back of the premises, police found a path leading to the 500m-wide canal and they suspect it of being used as a crossing point, as the opposite bank of the canal lies in the town of Poipet in Cambodia.
A Thai PBS reporter accompanying the police noted that most of the vehicles parked at the facility bore license plates from the northern provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son.
The business’s owner admitted to police that he had previously helped smuggle Thais out of the country, charging 500 baht per person. He claimed to have stopped the operation a long time ago.
Police warned him that such activities could lead to serious charges of participating in a transnational human smuggling ring.
The reporter also observed several similar businesses along the border, near the Khlong Luek checkpoint.
Police claimed that some Thais who sneaked into Cambodia were deceived into working at scam call centres, while others willingly sought employment there.
As police have intensified inspections, due to ongoing the campaign against scam centres in neighbouring countries, the fee for being taken across the canal as risen to between Bt7,000 and Bt10,000.
