More than 600 Myanmar illegal migrants detained in Thailand to be returned starting February 2

Narinjara News, January 31, 2023

The Myanmar Embassy in Thailand announced that more than 600 Myanmar nationals who are detained in the Immigration Detention Center in Ranong will be returned to Myanmar in three batches starting February 2.

U Thurein Tun, a labor attaché at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, told Narinjara that the Myanmar Labor Attaché in Ranong is conducting fieldwork on the ground to send them back.

“ At the moment, they are already doing the enumeration. The addresses of those who will return are already listed. They will be sent back on February 2 nd / 8 th / 15th. There has been a delay for months because of the outbreak of Covid-19,”  he said.

More than 600 Myanmar nationals have been crammed into a room that only holds 300 people, including more than 80 women and old people.

Thai authorities say that they are people who crossed the border into Thailand and are undocumented residents in the southern part of Thailand.

They are people who have not been punished in Thailand and are just waiting to be extradited to Kawthaung, Myanmar via Ranong, Thailand.

The statement of the Myanmar Embassy stated that the Myanmar Embassy has made this arrangement after the protests in the detention center on January 28th and 29th demanding that they be transferred to Myanmar.