Boxing Camp Boss Arrested for Smuggling Foreign Workers
A boxing camp director was arrested in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province while transporting nine undocumented migrant workers from Cambodia in a truck that crashed during a police chase on Highway 359.
On August 18, 2025, police units led by officers including Lieutenant Colonel Narodom Yuburne arrested a 42-year-old man identified as Wichai (surname withheld) in Kabinburi District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, along with eight Bangladeshi workers and one Myanmar national. A white Isuzu pickup truck registered in Sakaew Province was also seized.
Officers conducting patrols on Highway 359 in Sakaew Province, a known human trafficking route from Cambodia, spotted the suspicious vehicle traveling at high speed with numerous bags loaded in the truck bed. When signaled to stop, the driver accelerated and fled, prompting police to call for backup. The truck swerved into village roads in Wang Ta Chang Subdistrict before losing control and crashing along the roadside. The driver and all passengers then fled into a eucalyptus plantation.
Police coordinated with the subdistrict headman to pursue the fugitives over approximately three hours and apprehended all suspects. Under interrogation, Wichai admitted he is a boxing camp director in Aranyaprathet District, Sakaew Province, and had been hired to transport foreign nationals for 5,000 baht per trip to help fund his camp's operating expenses. He recruited the workers from the border area in Aranyaprathet and was transporting them to a bus station in Bangkok.
The migrant workers stated they came from construction work in Cambodia and were seeking to reach the Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand to arrange their return home. Police transferred them to Wang Ta Khian Police Station for legal proceedings and further investigation.
