Former Flight Attendant Arrested in Hat Yai for Migrant Smuggling
SONGKHLA — 15 October 2026, Immigration police have arrested a 34-year-old former airline flight attendant, identified only as Pan, over allegations she helped foreign nationals enter and leave Thailand illegally. Police said Pan, a Chinese national, was arrested at a hotel in central Hat Yai on Wednesday along with four other suspects. Officers said they […]
Songkhla immigration police arrested a 34‑year‑old former flight attendant, known only as Pan, a Chinese citizen, at a Hat Yai hotel on Wednesday together with four other suspects for allegedly helping foreigners enter and leave Thailand illegally. Officers said two Chinese men, Huang and Hwang, had crossed from Malaysia via an informal border point in Narathiwat and were staying at the hotel before heading to Bangkok; Pan allegedly picked them up by hired car and supplied them with passports for the onward trip. In a separate move, Pan had taken a 25‑year‑old woman identified as Mila, said to be from Vanuatu, to Hat Yai airport to hand her over to another broker for transport to Malaysia. Police tailed the vehicle, stopped it at the Padang Besar checkpoint, and arrested Thai driver Isra after finding Mila concealed under clothing in the back seat. Mila claimed legal entry and showed a friend’s travel documents, but officers determined the papers were not hers. Pan and Isra were charged with assisting or sheltering foreigners who had entered Thailand illegally to evade arrest; the three foreign nationals were charged with illegal entry and stay. Police said the suspects included three Chinese, one Thai, and one Vanuatu national. Pan told investigators she had worked as a flight attendant for a Chinese airline before studying in Thailand and later coordinated travel for Chinese nationals using both legal and illegal routes. Officers suspect links to a document‑trafficking network, noting that Hwang possessed a second Mexican passport, Mila was actually Chinese, and Pan’s phone contained images of several Vanuatu passports held by Chinese citizens. The investigation continues.
