February 26, 2008
CHIANG RAI, Thailand - Thai police Monday arrested 14 North Korean migrants along with two Thais accused of helping to smuggle them into the country, officials said.
Four men and 10 women, aged from 17 to 66, were apprehended at a bus station in Chiang Rai, police said, adding that the Thai agents were arrested while trying to buy the group tickets to Bangkok.
The agents -- a man aged 38 and a woman aged 44 -- told police they had been hired to bring the North Koreans from the border to the bus station.
Both Thai nationals were charged with helping foreigners enter the country illegally, which carries a five-year jail term and a 50,000 baht fine (1,540 dollars), police said.
The migrants, it is thought may have been taken through China by traffickers, were charged with illegal entry, but Thai courts regularly declare North Koreans refugees and allow them to be resettled in South Korea, rather than jailing them.
Chronic food and energy shortages have driven tens of thousands of people to flee the communist state, with many risking the long journey across China to Thailand in the hope of getting eventual resettlement.
Thai border police say the number of North Koreans arriving here has tapered off in recent months, which they attribute to increased patrols by China along its border with the reclusive state.
Beijing returns any refugees it catches, saying they are economic migrants.
