Immigrants arrested by Thai police in Tak province weren’t Khmer people

While amid reports of the arrests of Cambodian workers trying to enter Thailand illegally frequently, a video clip showing a group of people hiding in a car was posted on social media. According to the report, the people arrested by the Thai authorities were Cambodian workers who migrated to Thailand. This has been widely circulated and posted recently. However, Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the above post is misleading.

This is about our investigation of this claim.

Social Media Claim

On March 22, 2024, a Facebook page recently posted a video clip showing the scene where a group of people were found hiding in the car. The same Facebook page said: Those were Cambodian workers trying to cross the border into Thailand illegally.

The Facebook page above does not specify the details of the incident or the location of the incident, which makes the social media users share it many times along with various expressions and reactions.

Below is the full video clip posted by the Facebook page above, which reads “See and pity my nation”.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

The same video clips with such claims have been posted and found on many Facebook pages. Please see the full claims via this link (archived link) and another link here (archived link).

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia reviewed and verified the above claim through the Google Reverse Image Search application, which brings us to the following facts:

A group of people detained by Thai police were found and published on the Khaosod website on December 17, 2023. The article stated that the view is the arrest of seven Myanmar illegal immigrants hiding in a car for illegally coming to Thailand.

The same news website did not confirm that they were Cambodian workers.

Below is a captioned image in Thai or translated into English: “Illegal Myanmar workers hide themselves in the fruit container that was searched by Thai authorities in Tak province”.

Khaosod News Report | Archived Link

The case was also reported by the local Thai news agency Matichon on December 17, 2023, without showing that they were Cambodian workers. The following is a snapshot captured from the news website showing Thai authorities finding Myanmar migrants hidden in the fruit container.

Matichon News Report | Archived Link

The following is the full video clip reported by Thai TV channel station PPTV HD 36, stating that Myanmar workers are seen illegally traveling and violating the law, which continues to infiltrate Thailand by various means.

YouTube Link | Archived Link

At the beginning of the year, the number of workers entering Thailand illegally was rising; many of them had been duped by their brokers. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, most Khmer workers do not move via the legal route, despite the fact that there is a legal channel to transport them to Thailand.

The majority of those who were trafficked into Thailand by car did so at night in areas close to certain corridors where the brokers had to deal with border authorities. Border hoppers face various risks; they may sleep on sugarcane fields or attempt to elude the authorities. Certain regions still have uncleared landmines from the conflict, posing a threat to human safety.

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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found that the video clips and statements made by the above Facebook page were misleading. The original version of the video clip was a view of the arrest of Myanmar migrants by Thai authorities in Tak province in December 2023.